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MILITARY  AND   POLITICAL  LIFE 

VOLUME  III 


LIMITED    TO   ONE    THOUSAND   COMPLETE   COPIES 

™  7  1  8 


IN  CHESNAY  WOOD 


"The  brigands,  remaining  masters  of  tJic  field, 
tlianks  to  their  number,  searched  the  wagon,  which 
was  driven  into  a  ravine  for  that  purpose.  They 
covered  the  driver's  head  as  a  blind.  They  broke 
open  the  chests,  the  ground  was  strewn  with  bags  of 
money" 


THE    NOVELS 


OF 


HONORE  DE  BALZAC 


NOW   FOR   THE   FIRST  TIME 
COMPLETELY   TRANSLATED    INTO    ENGLISH 


Z.  MARCAS 

THE  OTHER  SIDE  OF  CONTEMPORANEOUS  HISTORY 

fIRST  EPISODE    MADAME  DE  LA    CHANTERIE 

SECOND  EPISODE     THE  NOVICE 

BY  G.  BURNHAM  IVES 


WITH     FIVE     ETCHINGS     BY    XAVIER    LE     SUEUR,    ALFRED 

BOILOT  AND   CHARLES-THEODORE  DEBLOIS,    AFTER 

PAINTINGS    BY  ADRIEN   MOREAU 


IN  ONE  VOLUME 


PRINTED  ONLY  FOR  SUBSCRIBERS  BY 

GEORGE   BARRIE   &   SON,   PHILADELPHIA 


COPYRIGHT,  1898,  BY   GEORGE  BARRIE  *   SON 


• 


Z%E 


r  —  » 

g 

(3 
O 


01 

1 


Z.  MARCAS 


189933 


TO  MONSEIGNEUR  LE  COMTE  GUILLAUME  DE 
WURTEMBERG 

As  a  token  of  the  author's  respectful  gratitude. 

DE  BALZAC. 


(3) 


Z.  MARCAS 


"I  have  never  seen  anyone,  even  among  the 
remarkable  men  of  the  age,  whose  appearance  was 
more  striking  than  that  man's;  a  study  of  his 
features  aroused  at  first  a  feeling  of  melancholy, 
and  eventually  caused  an  almost  painful  sensation. 
There  was  a  certain  harmony  between  the  person 
and  the  name.  The  Z.  that  preceded  the  Marcas, 
that  appeared  in  the  superscription  of  his  letters  and 
was  never  forgotten  in  his  signature,  that  final  letter 
of  the  alphabet  conveyed  to  the  mind  an  indefinable 
suggestion  of  fatality. 

"MARCAS !  Repeat  to  yourself  that  name  of  two 
syllables:  do  you  not  detect  a  sinister  meaning  in  it? 
Does  it  not  seem  to  you  that  the  man  who  bears  it 
is  destined  to  be  martyrized?  Although  a  strange 
and  barbarous  name,  it  is  entitled  none  the  less  to 
be  handed  down  to  posterity;  it  is  well  put  together, 
it  is  readily  pronounced,  it  has  the  brevity  desirable 
in  illustrious  names.  Is  it  not  as  soft  as  it  is  strange? 
but  has  it  not  an  unfinished  sound  to  your  ear?  I 
would  not  like  to  take  it  upon  myself  to  assert 
that  names  exercise  no  influence  over  destinies. 
Between  the  incidents  of  life  and  the  names  of  men, 

(5) 


6  Z.   MARCAS 

there  are  secret  and  inexplicable  accords  or  visible 
differences  that  surprise  one;  it  often  happens  that 
distant  but  potent  correlations  are  disclosed.  Our 
globe  is  full,  everything  clings  to  its  place.  Perhaps 
we  shall  go  back  some  day  to  the  occult  sciences. 

"Do  you  not  see  a  disappointed  twist  in  the 
formation  of  the  Z?  Does  it  not  pursue  the  fortui- 
tous and  capricious  zigzag  course  of  a  disturbed  life? 
What  wind  has  blown  upon  that  letter,  which  begins 
hardly  fifty  words  in  any  language  in  which  it  is 
used?  Marcas's  name  was  Zephirin.  Saint-Zephirin 
is  deeply  venerated  in  Bretagne.  Marcas  was  a 
Breton. 

"Scrutinize  that  name  once  more:  Z.  Marcas! 
The  man's  whole  life  is  comprised  in  that  capricious 
union  of  the  seven  letters.  Seven!  the  most  sig- 
nificant of  cabalistic  numbers.  The  man  died  at 
thirty-five,  so  that  his  life  was  composed  of  seven 
lusters.  Marcas!  Do  you  not  get  the  idea  of  some 
precious  object  broken  by  a  fall,  with  or  without  a 
crash? 

"I  was  finishing  my  legal  studies  in  Paris,  in  1836. 
I  lived  at  that  time  on  Rue  Corneille,  in  a  house 
entirely  devoted  to  students'  lodgings,  one  of  the 
houses  with  a  winding  staircase  at  the  rear,  lighted 
at  the  bottom  from  the  street,  then  by  inner  windows 
and  at  the  top  by  a  round  window.  There  were 
forty  rooms,  furnished  as  rooms  intended  for  students 
usually  are.  What  more  does  youth  need  than  was 
provided  in  those  rooms?  a  bed,  a  few  chairs,  a 
commode,  a  mirror  and  a  table.  As  soon  as  the 


Z.   MARCAS  7 

skies  are  clear,  the  student  opens  his  window.  But 
in  that  street  there  are  no  pretty  neighbors  to  ogle. 
Across  the  street,  the  Odeon,  long  since  closed, 
presents  to  the  eye  its  already  blackening  walls,  the 
tiny  windows  of  its  boxes,  and  its  vast  slated  roof. 
I  was  not  rich  enough  to  have  a  good  room,  I  was 
not  able  even  to  have  a  room  to  myself.  Juste 
and  I  shared  a  room  with  two  beds,  on  the  fifth  floor. 

"On  that  side  of  the  stairway  there  were  no 
rooms  but  our  own  and  another  smaller  one,  occupied 
by  our  neighbor,  Z.  Marcas.  Juste  and  I  were  for 
six  months  entirely  unaware  that  we  had  such  a 
neighbor.  An  old  woman  who  managed  the  house 
had  told  us,  to  be  sure,  that  the  little  room  was 
occupied,  but  she  had  added  that  we  should  not  be 
annoyed,  as  the  occupant  was  an  exceedingly  quiet 
person.  In  fact,  we  did  not  meet  our  neighbor  once 
during  the  first  six  months,  and  we  heard  no  sound 
in  his  room,  notwithstanding  the  thinness  of  the 
partition  between  us,  which  was  one  of  the  lath  and 
plaster  partitions  so  common  in  Paris  houses. 

"Our  chamber,  which  was  seven  feet  high,  was 
hung  with  a  wretched  little  blue  flowered  paper. 
The  painted  floor  knew  nothing  of  the  polish  that 
scrubbing  imparts.  We  had  a  shabby  list  mat 
beside  our  beds.  The  fireplace  flue  entered  the 
chimney  too  near  the  roof,  and  smoked  so  that  we 
were  compelled  to  put  in  a  chimney-pot  at  our  own 
expense.  Our  beds  were  painted  wooden  cots, 
like  those  used  at  boarding-schools.  There  was 
never  anything  on  the  mantel-shelf  except  two 


8  Z.   MARCAS 

copper  candlesticks,  sometimes  with  and  sometimes 
without  candles,  our  two  pipes  and  some  tobacco, 
loose  or  in  a  bag;  then  there  were  the  little  piles  of 
ashes  that  our  visitors  deposited  there  or  that  we 
collected  ourselves  when  smoking  cigars.  Two 
calico  curtains  slid  upon  rods  at  the  window,  on 
each  side  of  which  were  two  little  cherry-wood 
bookcases,  of  a  pattern  familiar  to  all  those  who 
frequent  the  Latin  quarter,  in  which  we  kept  the 
few  books  essential  for  our  studies.  The  ink  in  the 
inkstand  was  always  like  the  thick  lava  in  the 
crater  of  a  volcano.  May  not  any  inkstand  to-day 
become  a  Vesuvius?  The  quills,  when  twisted, 
served  to  clean  out  the  stems  of  our  pipes.  In 
opposition  to  the  general  rule  in  banking,  paper  was 
even  scarcer  with  us  than  coin. 

"How  can  people  expect  to  induce  young  men  to 
remain  in  such  furnished  apartments?  So  the 
students  do  their  studying  in  cafes,  at  the  theatre, 
in  the  paths  of  the  Luxembourg,  in  grisettes'  rooms, 
anywhere,  even  at  the  School  of  Law,  except  in 
their  horrible  rooms — horrible  when  it  is  a  question 
of  studying  there,  but  delightful  when  they  meet 
there  to  prattle  and  smoke.  Place  a  cloth  on  yonder 
table,  imagine  thereon  the  hastily  ordered  dinner 
from  the  best  restaurant  in  the  quarter,  with  covers 
laid  for  four,  and  two  girls, — have  that  domestic 
scene  lithographed  and  a  saint  cannot  refrain  from 
smiling  at  it. 

"We  thought  of  nothing  but  our  own  entertain- 
ment. Our  reason  for  leading  such  a  disorderly  life 


Z.   MARCAS  9 

was  founded  upon  most  serious  consideration  of 
what  policy  counsels  at  the  present  time.  Juste  and 
myself  could  see  no  place  for  ourselves  in  the  two 
professions  which  our  parents  compelled  us  to  em- 
brace. There  are  a  hundred  lawyers,  a  hundred 
doctors  for  every  vacancy.  The  crowd  blocks  those 
two  roads,  which  seem  to  lead  to  fortune  and  which 
are  really  two  arenas:  they  fight  and  kill  each  other 
there,  not  with  side  arms  or  with  firearms,  but  by 
intrigue  and  slander,  by  terrible  labor,  by  campaigns 
in  the  domain  of  intelligence,  as  deadly  as  the 
Italian  campaigns  were  to  the  republican  troops. 
To-day,  when  everything  is  resolved  into  a  contest 
of  intellects,  one  must  be  able  to  remain  in  one's 
chair  in  front  of  a  table  for  forty -eight  hours  in  suc- 
cession, as  a  general  sometimes  remains  two  whole 
days  in  the  saddle.  The  great  throng  of  aspirants 
has  compelled  the  medical  profession  to  divide  itself 
into  categories:  there  is  the  physician  who  writes, 
the  physician  who  teaches,  the  political  physician 
and  the  practising  physician — four  different  ways 
of  being  a  physician,  four  sections  already  full.  As 
for  the  fifth  division — doctors  who  sell  remedies, — 
there  is  considerable  rivalry  there,  and  they  fight 
with  disgusting  placards  posted  on  the  blank  walls 
of  Paris. — In  all  the  courts  there  are  as  many 
lawyers  as  causes.  The  lawyer  is  thrown  back  upon 
journalism,  politics,  literature.  Even  the  State, 
besieged  by  applications  for  the  smallest  places  in  the 
magistracy,  has  ended  by  requiring  the  petitioners 
to  possess  a  considerable  fortune.  The  pear-shaped 


10  Z.   MARCAS 

head  of  the  son  of  a  wealthy  grocer  will  be  given 
the  preference  over  the  square  head  of  a  man  of 
talent  without  a  sou.  By  straining  every  nerve,  by 
putting  forth  all  his  energy,  a  young  man  who 
starts  from  zero  may  find  himself,  at  the  end  of  ten 
years,  below  his  starting  point.  To-day  talent 
must  have  the  good  luck  that  brings  success  to 
incapacity;  nay,  more,  if  it  lacks  the  mean  qualities 
that  give  success  to  mediocrity,  it  will  never 
succeed. 

"If  we  had  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  our 
epoch,  we  knew  ourselves  equally  well,  and  we 
preferred  the  idleness  of  thinkers  to  a  purposeless 
activity,  indifference  and  pleasure  to  fruitless  labors 
which  would  have  tired  out  our  courage  and  worn 
away  the  keen  edge  of  our  intellect.  We  had 
analyzed  social  conditions  as  we  sauntered  through 
the  streets,  laughing  and  smoking.  Our  reflections 
and  observations  were  none  the  less  profound  and 
judicious  for  being  evolved  under  such  conditions. 

"While  remarking  the  servitude  to  which  youth 
is  condemned,  we  were  amazed  at  the  brutal 
indifference  of  the  ruling  powers  to  everything 
connected  with  the  mind,  with  the  thought,  with 
poesy.  What  meaning  glances  Juste  and  I  often 
exchanged  as  we  read  the  newspapers,  ascertaining 
what  was  happening  in  the  political  world,  running 
through  the  debates  in  the  Chambers,  discussing 
the  conduct  of  a  court  whose  wilful  ignorance  can 
be  compared  only  to  the  vapidity  of  the  courtiers,  to 
the  mediocrity  of  the  men  who  hedge  about  the 


Z.   MARCAS  II 

new  throne,  all  without  wit  or  talent,  without 
learning  or  fame,  without  influence  or  eminence. 
What  a  eulogy  of  the  court  of  Charles  X.  is  the 
present  court,  if  it  can  properly  be  so  called!  What 
hatred  for  the  country  is  shown  in  the  naturalization 
of  the  commonplace  foreigners,  men  of  no  talent, 
who  are  enthroned  in  the  Chamber  of  Peers!  What 
a  perversion  of  justice!  What  an  insult  to  the 
rising  generation,  to  native-born  ambition!  We 
looked  at  all  these  things  as  at  a  play,  and  we 
groaned  at  them  without  coming  to  any  decision  as 
to  our  own  course. 

"Juste,  whom  none  came  to  consult,  and  who 
would  never  have  sought  patients,  was,  at  twenty- 
five,  a  profound  politician,  a  man  of  wonderful 
aptitude  in  grasping  the  distant  connection  between 
present  and  future  conditions.  He  told  me  in  1831 
what  was  likely  to  happen  and  did  actually  happen: 
the  assassinations,  the  conspiracies,  the  reign  of  the 
Jews,  the  labored  movements  of  France,  the  famine 
of  great  minds  in  the  upper  spheres,  and  the 
abundance  of  talent  in  the  lowlands,  where  the 
noblest  courage  is  extinguished  under  the  ashes  of 
the  cigar.  What  should  he  do?  His  family  wanted 
him  to  be  a  physician.  Did  not  that  mean  that  he 
must  wait  twenty  years  for  a  clientage?  Do  you 
know  what  has  become  of  him?  No?  Well,  he  is 
a  physician;  but  he  has  left  France  and  is  in  Asia. 
At  this  very  moment  he  may  be  dying  of  fatigue  in 
a  desert  or  falling  beneath  the  blows  of  a  horde  of 
savages,  or  he  may  be  prime  minister  to  some 


12  Z.    MARCAS 

Indian  prince.  My  own  vocation  is  action.  Leaving 
college  at  the  age  of  twenty,  it  was  not  possible  for 
me  to  enter  the  army  except  as  a  common  soldier; 
and,  being  disgusted  by  the  gloomy  prospect  afforded 
by  the  legal  profession,  I  have  acquired  the  knowl- 
edge necessary  for  a  sailor.  I  propose  to  follow 
Juste's  example,  I  am  leaving  France  where  one 
expends  in  making  a  place  for  one's  self  the  time  and 
energy  essential  for  the  loftiest  achievements.  Do 
as  I  do,  my  friends;  I  am  going  where  a  man  may 
guide  his  destiny  as  he  wills. 

"These  momentous  resolutions  were  formed 
deliberately  in  the  little  room  in  the  house  on  Rue 
Corneille,  or  going  to  the  Bal  Musard,  paying  court 
to  merry  damsels,  leading  a  wild  and  apparently 
reckless  life.  Our  resolutions,  our  reflections 
wavered  for  a  long  while.  Marcas,  our  neighbor, 
was,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  guide  who  led  us  to  the 
brink  of  the  precipice  or  the  roaring  torrent,  and 
who  caused  us  to  measure  its  extent,  who  showed 
us  in  advance  what  our  fate  would  be  if  we  should 
let  ourselves  fall  into  it.  It  was  he  who  put  us  on 
our  guard  against  the  habit  of  postponing  the  day  of 
reckoning,  which  a  man  contracts  with  increasing 
want  and  which  hope  seems  to  justify,  by  accepting 
precarious  positions  from  which  he  has  to  struggle 
to  extricate  himself,  by  allowing  himself  to  float 
with  the  current  of  Paris,  that  monstrous  harlot 
who  takes  you  up  and  drops  you,  smiles  upon  you 
and  turns  her  back  upon  you  with  equal  facility, 
who  wears  out  the  firmest  wills  by  her  captious 


Z.   MARCAS  13 

caprices — Paris,    where     misfortune    is    the   kept 
mistress  of  chance. 

"Our  first  meeting  with  Marcas  dazzled  us,  so  to 
speak.  On  returning  from  our  respective  schools, 
before  the  dinner  hour,  we  always  went  up  to  our 
room  and  remained  there  a  moment,  waiting  for 
each  other,  to  find  out  if  our  plans  for  the  evening 
had  undergone  any  change.  One  day,  at  four 
o'clock,  Juste  saw  Marcas  on  the  stairway,  and  I 
met  him  on  the  street.  It  was  in  November  and 
Marcas  had  no  cloak;  he  wore  shoes  with  heavy 
soles,  trousers  with  feet,  made  of  double-milled 
cassimere,  a  blue  coat  buttoned  to  the  neck  and 
with  a  square  collar,  which  gave  him  something  of 
a  military  air,  especially  as  he  wore  a  black  cravat. 
There  was  nothing  remarkable  in  the  costume,  but 
it  accorded  well  with  the  man's  bearing  and  his  face. 
My  first  impression  at  sight  of  him  was  neither 
surprise,  nor  astonishment,  nor  melancholy,  nor  in- 
terest, nor  pity,  but  a  curiosity  which  partook  of  all 
those  emotions.  He  was  walking  slowly,  at  a  pace 
that  indicated  profound  melancholy,  with  his  head 
bent  forward,  but  not  hanging  after  the  manner  of 
a  man  conscious  of  guilt.  It  was  a  large,  powerful 
head,  which  seemed  to  contain  the  treasures  neces- 
sary to  one  whose  ambition  was  of  the  first  order, 
and  it  was  apparently  laden  with  thoughts;  it  bent 
beneath  the  weight  of  mental  suffering,  but  there 
was  not  the  slightest  trace  of  remorse  in  its  features. 
The  character  of  the  face  will  be  understood  from  a 
single  word  of  description.  According  to  a  theory 


14  Z.   MARCAS 

much  in  vogue,  every  human  face  bears  some 
resemblance  to  an  animal.  Marcas's  animal  was 
the  lion.  His  hair  resembled  a  mane,  his  nose  was 
short,  flat,  broad  and  split  at  the  end  like  a  lion's; 
his  forehead  was  divided  into  two  mighty  lobes,  like 
a  lion's,  by  a  deep  furrow.  Lastly,  his  hairy  cheek- 
bones, to  which  the  thinness  of  his  cheeks  gave 
added  prominence,  his  enormous  mouth  and  his 
hollow  cheeks  were  creased  by  folds  that  imparted 
a  rugged  sternness  to  his  expression,  while  their 
effect  was  heightened  by  a  coloring  in  which 
yellowish  tones  predominated.  That  almost  awe- 
inspiring  face  seemed  illumined  by  two  lights,  the 
eyes,  black  as  jet,  but  of  infinite  sweetness,  calm 
and  deep,  full  of  thought.  If  we  may  be  permitted 
to  use  the  expression,  his  eyes  were  humiliated. 
Marcas  was  afraid  to  look  at  people,  not  so  much  on 
his  own  account  as  on  account  of  those  upon  whom 
his  fascinating  glance  might  rest;  he  possessed  a 
power  which  he  did  not  care  to  exercise;  he  spared 
those  who  passed  him  by,  he  dreaded  to  be  noticed. 
It  was  not  modesty,  but  resignation,  not  the  Christ- 
like  resignation  which  implies  charity,  but  resigna- 
tion advised  by  the  reason,  which  has  pointed  out 
the  momentary  uselessness  of  talent,  the  impossi- 
bility of  attaining  and  living  in  the  sphere  for  which 
we  are  fitted.  That  glance  could  emit  lightning  at 
certain  moments.  From  that  mouth  issued  a  voice 
of  thunder,  which  was  much  like  Mirabeau's. 

"  'I   have  just  seen   a   remarkable   man  in  the 
street,'  I  said  to  Juste  as  I  entered  the  room. 


Z.   MARC  AS  15 

"  'It  must  be  our  neighbor,'  replied  Juste,  and  he 
proceeded  to  give  an  accurate  description  of  the  man 
I   had   met. — 'A  man  who  lives  like  a  wood  louse 
must  look  like  that,'  he  said  in  conclusion. 
"  'What  humility  and  what  grandeur!' 
"  'One  is  a  consequence  of  the  other.' 
"  'How  many  disappointed    hopes!    how   many 
plans  defeated!' 

"  'Seven  leagues  of  ruins!  obelisks,  palaces, 
towers:  the  ruins  of  Palmyra  in  the  desert,'  said 
Juste  jestingly. 

"We  dubbed  our  neighbor  the  Ruins  of  Palmyra. 
When  we  went  out  to  dine  in  the  wretched  restau- 
rant on  Rue  de  la  Harpe,  where  we  were  subscribers, 
we  inquired  the  name  of  number  37,  and  we  then 
first  heard  the  witching  name  of  Z.  Marcas.  Like 
the  children  that  we  were,  we  repeated  the  name  a 
hundred  times  or  more  with  the  most  varied  intona- 
tions, absurd  or  melancholy,  the  pronunciation 
lending  itself  readily  to  our  sport.  At  times,  Juste 
succeeded  in  uttering  the  Z  with  the  sound  made  by 
a  rocket  when  it  is  discharged,  and,  after  making  a 
brilliant  display  of  the  first  syllable,  he  depicted  a  fall 
by  the  abrupt,  hollow  tone  in  which  he  pronounced 
the  last. 

"  'Ah  fa!  where  and  how  does  he  live?' 
"Between  that  question  and  the  harmless 
espionage  induced  by  curiosity,  there  was  only  the 
brief  interval  required  to  put  our  plan  in  execution. 
Instead  of  taking  a  stroll,  we  returned  to  our  room, 
each  armed  with  a  novel.  And  we  read,  listening 


16  Z.  MARCAS 

the  while.  We  heard,  in  the  profound  silence  of  our 
attic,  the  soft,  regular  sound  produced  by  the 
respiration  of  a  sleeping  man. 

"  'He  is  asleep,'  I  said  to  Juste,  noticing  the 
sound  first. 

"  'At  seven  o'clock!'  replied  the  Doctor. 

"That  was  the  name  I  gave  to  Juste,  who  called 
me  the  Keeper  of  the  Seals. 

"  'A  man  must  be  very  unhappy  to  sleep  as  much 
as  our  neighbor  sleeps,'  I  said,  jumping  on  the 
commode,  armed  with  an  enormous  knife,  in  the 
handle  of  which  there  was  a  corkscrew. 

"I  made  a  round  hole  as  large  as  a  five-sou  piece 
in  the  partition.  I  had  not  reflected  that  there  was 
no  light  in  the  room,  and  when  I  put  my  eye  to  the 
hole  I  saw  nothing  but  darkness.  About  one  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  when  we  had  finished  our  novels 
and  were  preparing  to  retire,  we  heard  a  noise  in 
our  neighbor's  room;  he  rose,  struck  a  match  and 
lighted  his  candle.  I  remounted  the  commode.  I 
then  saw  Marcas  seated  at  his  table  copying  legal 
documents.  His  room  was  half  the  size  of  ours,  the 
bed  was  in  a  recess  beside  the  door,  for  the  space 
taken  by  the  corridor,  which  ended  at  his  den,  was 
subtracted  from  it;  but  the  lot  of  land  on  which  the 
house  was  built  was  evidently  a  trapezium  in  shape 
and  the  party  wall  in  the  rear  of  his  attic  was 
narrower  than  the  front  wall  of  the  house.  He  had 
no  fireplace,  but  a  small  white  porcelain  stove, 
covered  with  green  spots,  the  funnel  of  which  went 
out  through  a  hole  in  the  roof.  Wretched  reddish 


Z.  MARCAS  17 

curtains  hung  at  the  window,  which  was  in  the 
rear  wall.  An  armchair,  a  table,  a  common  chair 
and  a  rickety  night  table  completed  the  furni- 
ture of  the  room.  He  kept  his  linen  in  a  cupboard 
cut  in  the  wall.  The  paper  on  the  walls  was 
hideously  ugly.  It  was  evident  that  no  one  but  a 
servant  had  ever  occupied  the  room  until  Marcas 
came  there. 

"  'What  did  you  see?'  the  Doctor  asked  me  as  I 
descended  from  my  perch. 

"  'Look  for  yourself!'  I  replied. 

"The  next  morning  at  nine  o'clock  Marcas  was  in 
bed.  He  had  breakfasted  on  a  Bologna  sausage:  we 
saw  on  a  plate,  among  crumbs  of  bread,  the  remains 
of  that  delicacy,  which  was  well  known  to  us. 
Marcas  was  asleep.  He  did  not  wake  until  eleven. 
He  returned  to  the  copy  he  had  been  at  work  on  the 
night  before,  which  lay  on  the  table.  When  we 
went  downstairs  we  inquired  the  price  of  the  room 
and  learned  that  it  was  let  for  fifteen  francs  per 
month.  In  a  few  days  we  were  fully  acquainted 
with  Z.  Marcas's  mode  of  life.  He  made  copies,  at 
so  much  the  line  doubtless,  for  a  contractor  for 
clerical  work  who  lived  in  the  courtyard  of  Sainte- 
Chapelle;  he  worked  half  the  night;  after  sleeping 
from  six  o'clock  to  ten,  he  rose  and  worked  again 
until  three  o'clock;  then  he  went  out  to  deliver  his 
copies  before  dinner,  and  dined  at  Mizerai's  on  Rue 
Michel-le-Comte,  for  nine  sous  a  meal;  then  he 
went  home  and  to  bed  at  six  o'clock.  We  were 
satisfied  that  Marcas  did  not  say  fifteen  sentences  in 


18  Z.   MARCAS 

a  month;  he  never  spoke  to  anyone,  nor  did  he  ever 
say  a  word  to  himself  in  his  miserable  garret. 

"  'The  Ruins  of  Palmyra  are  terribly  silent, 
there's  no  doubt  about  that!'  cried  Juste. 

"There  was  something  profoundly  significant  in 
this  silence  on  the  part  of  a  man  whose  exterior  was 
so  imposing.  Sometimes,  when  we  met  him,  we 
exchanged  glances  pregnant  with  thought,  but 
followed  by  no  treaty.  By  insensible  degrees  we 
came  to  feel  a  profound  admiration  for  the  man, 
although  neither  of  us  could  understand  its  cause. 
Was  it  his  simple  habits,  his  monastic  regularity,  his 
reciuse-like  frugality,  his  unexacting  occupation, 
which  allowed  his  mind  to  remain  inactive  or  to 
work,  and  which  denoted  either  that  he  was  awaiting 
some  lucky  chance  or  that  he  had  determined  what 
direction  to  give  his  life?  After  walking  a  long  time 
among  the  Ruins  of  Palmyra,  we  forgot  them,  we 
were  so  young!  Then  came  the  carnival,  the 
Parisian  carnival,  which  will  eventually  overshadow 
the  carnival  of  Venice,  and  will  attract  all  Europe  to 
Paris  a  few  years  hence,  if  officious  prefects  of 
police  do  not  interfere.  Gambling  ought  to  be 
tolerated  during  the  carnival;  but  the  imbecile 
moralists  who  have  caused  its  suppression  are  foolish 
schemers  who  will  not  rehabilitate  that  necessary 
canker  until  it  is  proved  that  France  leaves  millions 
of  money  in  Germany. 

"That  joyous  carnival  season  brought  great 
destitution  upon  us  as  upon  all  students.  We  had 
disposed  of  all  our  objects  of  luxury;  we  had  sold 


Z.   MARCAS  19 

one  of  our  coats,  one  pair  of  boots,  one  of  our  waist- 
coats, one  of  everything  that  we  had  in  duplicate, 
except  our  friends.  We  lived  on  bread  and  scraps 
of  pork,  we  walked  cautiously,  we  worked;  we 
owed  two  months'  rent  and  we  were  certain  of 
having  an  account  of  sixty  or  eighty  lines  each  with 
the  concierge,  amounting  to  forty  or  fifty  francs  in 
all.  We  were  no  longer  brusque  or  merry  as  we 
crossed  the  tiled  landing  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase, 
and  we  often  went  from  the  lower  step  into  the 
street  at  a  single  bound.  On  the  day  when  the 
tobacco  for  our  pipes  was  exhausted  we  noticed  that 
for  several  days  we  had  been  eating  our  bread  with- 
out any  sort  of  butter.  Our  sadness  was  heart- 
rending. 

"  'No  more  tobacco!'  said  the  Doctor. 

"  'No  more  cloak!'  said  the  Keeper  of  the  Seals. 

"  'Ah!  you  rascals,  you  dressed  like  Longjumeau 
postilions!  you  would  array  yourselves  in  barge- 
men's costume,  sup  in  the  morning  and  breakfast 
in  the  evening  at  Very's,  and  sometimes  at  the 
Rocker  de  Cancale! — To  your  dry  crust,  messieurs! 
You  ought,'  I  said,  raising  my  voice,  'to  lie  under 
your  beds,  you  are  unworthy  to  lie  on  top  of  them.' 

"  'Very  true,  O  Keeper  of  the  Seals,  but  there's 
no  more  tobacco!'  said  Juste. 

"  'It  is  time  to  write  to  our  mothers,  our  aunts, 
our  sisters,  that  we  haven't  any  linen,  that  life  in 
Paris  would  wear  out  knitted  iron  wire.  We  will 
solve  an  interesting  problem  in  chemistry  by  chang- 
ing linen  into  cash. ' 


2O  Z.   MARCAS 

"  'We  must  live  until  we  get  their  reply. 

"  'Very  well,  I  will  go  and  negotiate  a  loan  with 
such  of  my  friends  as  have  not  yet  exhausted  their 
capital.' 

"  'What  will  you  get?' 

"  'Get!  ten  francs!'  I  replied  proudly. 

"Marcas  had  overheard  everything;  it  was  noon; 
he  knocked  at  our  door  and  said: 

"  'Here  is  some  tobacco,  messieurs;  you  can 
return  it  to  me  when  convenient.' 

"We  were  struck  dumb — not  by  the  offer,  which 
we  accepted,  but  by  the  fulness  and  depth  and  rich 
quality  of  that  voice,  which  can  be  compared  to 
nothing  but  the  fourth  string  of  Paganini's  violin. 
Marcas  disappeared  without  awaiting  our  thanks. 
Juste  and  I  gazed  at  each  other  in  perfect  silence. 
To  be  assisted  by  someone  evidently  poorer  than 
ourselves!  Juste  bestirred  himself  to  write  to  all 
the  branches  of  his  family,  and  I  went  to  negotiate 
the  loan.  I  procured  twenty  francs  from  a  native 
of  my  own  province.  In  those  unhappy  good  old 
days  gambling  still  flourished,  and  in  its  veins,  hard 
as  the  gangues  of  Brazil,  young  men,  risking  little, 
seized  the  chance  of  winning  a  few  pieces  of  gold. 
My  compatriot  had  some  Turkish  tobacco  brought 
from  Constantinople  by  a  naval  officer;  he  gave  me 
about  as  much  as  we  had  received  from  Z.  Marcas. 
I  brought  the  rich  cargo  back  to  port,  and  we  made 
a  triumphal  visit  to  our  neighbor  to  carry  him  a 
sumptuous  blond  periwig  of  Turkish  tobacco  in 
return  for  his  caporal. 


Z.   MARCAS  21 

"  'You  did  not  wish  to  owe  me  anything/  he 
said;  'you  give  me  gold  for  copper;  you  are  children 
— good  fellows — ' 

"Those  three  sentences,  uttered  in  different 
tones,  were  differently  accented.  The  words  were 
nothing,  but  the  accent — Ah!  the  accent  made  us 
friends  of  ten  years'  standing.  Marcas  had  hidden 
his  copies  when  he  heard  us  coming,  so  we  realized 
that  it  would  be  an  impertinence  to  mention  his 
means  of  existence,  and  we  were  ashamed  of 
having  played  the  spy  upon  him.  His  cupboard 
was  open,  it  contained  only  two  shirts,  a  white 
cravat  and  a  razor.  The  razor  made  me  shudder. 
A  mirror  that  was  worth  perhaps  a  hundred  sous 
was  hanging  by  the  window.  There  was  a  sort  of 
wild  grandeur  in  the  man's  simple  and  infrequent 
gestures.  The  Doctor  and  I  looked  at  each  other  as 
if  to  decide  how  we  should  reply.  Juste,  seeing  that 
I  was  tongue-tied,  said  to  Marcas,  in  a  jesting  tone: 

"  'Does  monsieur  cultivate  literature?' 

"  'I  have  been  careful  to  do  nothing  of  the  sort!' 
replied  Marcas,  'or  I  should  not  be  so  rich.' 

"  'I  thought,'  said  I,  'that  nothing  but  poetry,  in 
these  days,  could  keep  a  man  in  such  wretched 
quarters  as  ours.' 

"My  remark  made  Marcas  smile,  and  the  smile 
gave  charm  to  his  yellow  face. 

"  'Ambition  is  no  less  harsh  to  those  who  do  not 
succeed,'  he  said.  'So  do  you,  who  are  beginning 
life,  follow  the  beaten  paths;  do  not  think  of 
becoming  men  of  mark,  it  would  be  your  ruin!' 


22  Z.    MARCAS 

"  'Do  you  advise  us  to  remain  what  we  are?' 
said  the  Doctor  with  a  smile. 

"There  is  such  a  childlike,  infectious  charm  in 
the  jesting  of  youth,  that  Juste's  question  made 
Marcas  smile  once  more. 

"  'What  can  have  happened  to  teach  you  such 
shocking  philosophy  as  that?'  I  asked  him. 

"  'I  forgot  once  more  that  chance  is  the  result  of 
a  vast  equation  of  which  we  do  not  know  all  the 
roots.  When  one  starts  from  zero  to  arrive  at 
unity,  the  chances  against  success  are  incalculable. 
For  the  ambitious,  Paris  is  an  immense  roulette 
table,  and  every  young  man  believes  that  he  has 
found  a  winning  combination.' 

"He  offered  us  the  tobacco  I  had  given  him  and 
invited  us  to  smoke  with  him;  the  Doctor  went  to 
get  our  pipes,  Marcas  loaded  his,  then  came  and  sat 
down  in  our  room,  bringing  the  tobacco:  he  had 
only  one  chair  besides  his  armchair.  Nimble  as  a 
squirrel,  Juste  ran  downstairs  and  reappeared  with 
a  waiter  bringing  three  bottles  of  Bordeaux,  a  piece 
of  Brie  cheese  and  some  bread. 

"  'The  deuce,  fifteen  francs!'  I  said  to  myself, 
and  I  was  right  to  a  sou. 

"Juste  gravely  deposited  the  five  remaining 
francs  on  the  mantel. 

"There  is  an  immeasurable  difference  between 
the  man  in  society  and  the  man  who  lives  very  near 
to  nature.  When  he  was  once  captured,  Toussaint 
Louverture  died  without  uttering  a  word.  Napoleon, 
when  he  was  once  upon  his  sea-girt  rock,  chattered 


Z.   MARCAS  23 

like  a  magpie;  he  tried  to  explain.  Z.  Marcas 
committed  the  same  mistake,  but  for  our  benefit 
only.  Silence  in  all  its  majesty  is  found  only  in  the 
savage.  There  is  no  criminal,  who,  when  he  has 
the  opportunity  to  let  his  secrets  fall  into  the  basket 
with  his  head,  does  not  feel  the  purely  social  need 
of  telling  them  to  some  one.  I  am  wrong.  We 
have  seen  one  of  the  Iroquois  of  Faubourg  Saint- 
Germain  place  Parisian  nature  on  a  level  with  the 
nature  of  the  wild  man:  a  man,  a  republican,  a 
conspirator,  a  Frenchman,  an  old  man,  surpassed 
all  that  we  know  of  the  steadfastness  of  the  negro, 
and  all  the  tranquil  contempt  in  defeat  that  Cooper 
attributes  to  the  Redskins.  Morey,  the  Guatimozin 
of  the  Mountain,  maintained  an  attitude  unparalleled 
in  the  annals  of  European  justice. 

'  "This  is  what  Marcas  told  us  that  morning,  inter- 
spersing his  narrative  with  slices  of  bread  spread 
with  cheese  and  washed  down  with  divers  glasses 
of  wine.  All  the  tobacco  disappeared.  Now  and 
then  the  cabs  that  crossed  Place  de  POdeon  and  the 
omnibuses  that  ploughed  through  it,  added  their  dull 
rumbling,  as  if  to  show  that  Paris  was  still  there. 

"His  family  was  of  Vitre,  his  father  and  mother 
lived  on  fifteen  hundred  francs  a  year.  He  had  been 
educated  free  of  charge  in  a  seminary  and  had 
refused  to  become  a  priest:  he  had  felt  within  him- 
self the  ardent  heat  of  an  overpowering  ambition, 
and  he  had  come  on  foot  to  Paris,  at  the  age  of 
twenty,  possessed  of  two  hundred  francs.  He  had 
taken  his  degree  in  law,  working  meanwhile  for  a 


24  Z.   MARCAS 

solicitor,  whose  head  clerk  he  had  become.  He 
had  a  doctor's  degree  in  law,  he  was  familiar  with 
the  old  and  the  new  legislation,  he  could  trace  them 
both  back  to  the  most  famous  lawyers.  He  knew 
the  law  of  nations  and  was  familiar  with  all  the 
European  treaties  and  the  principles  of  international 
comity.  He  had  studied  men  and  things  in  five 
capitals:  London,  Vienna,  Berlin,  St.  Petersburg 
and  Constantinople.  No  one  knew  the  precedents  of 
the  Chamber  better  than  he.  For  five  years  he 
had  done  the  Chambers  for  a  daily  paper.  He  was 
an  admirable  extemporaneous  speaker,  and  could 
talk  a  long  while  in  that  deep  melodious  voice 
which  had  penetrated  to  our  hearts.  He  proved  to 
us  by  the  story  of  his  life  that  he  was  a  great 
orator,  concise,  serious,  and  still  possessed  of  per- 
suasive eloquence;  he  suggested  Berryer  in  his 
fervid  periods  and  his  power  to  sway  the  masses; 
he  resembled  Monsieur  Thiers  in  finesse  and 
adroitness,  but  he  would  have  been  less  diffuse,  less 
embarrassed  to  conclude.  He  expected  to  attain 
power  at  once  without  being  hampered  by  doctrines 
necessarily  espoused  at  first  by  one  in  opposition, 
and  likely  to  prove  an  annoyance  later  to  the 
minister. 

"Marcas  had  learned  everything  that  a  genuine 
statesman  ought  to  know;  his  astonishment  was 
unbounded  therefore  when  he  had  occasion  to 
probe  the  profound  ignorance  of  the  men  prominent 
in  public  affairs  in  France.  If  his  vocation  had 
counseled  study,  nature  had  been  very  lavish  of 


Z.   MARCAS  25 

her  gifts,  she  had  given  him  all  those  qualities  that 
cannot  be  acquired:  keen  penetration,  self-control, 
mental  dexterity,  swiftness  of  judgment,  decision, 
and,  above  all,  fertility  of  methods,  which  is  the 
genius  of  such  men  as  he. 

"When  he  deemed  himself  sufficiently  armed, 
Marcas  found  France  torn  by  the  internal  dissensions 
born  of  the  triumph  of  the  Orleans  branch  over  the 
elder  branch.  The  stage  of  political  struggles  has 
evidently  changed.  Civil  war  cannot  last  long  in 
these  days,  it  will  not  again  extend  to  the  provinces. 
There  will  be  only  one  more  contest  in  France,  of 
short  duration,  at  the  very  seat  of  government,  and 
it  will  put  an  end  to  the  moral  warfare  which  emi- 
nent minds  will  have  waged  previously.  This  state 
of  things  will  endure  as  long  as  France  retains  its 
strange  form  of  government,  which  is  not  analogous 
to  that  of  any  other  country;  there  is  no  more 
resemblance  between  the  English  government  and 
ours  than  between  the  two  countries  themselves. 
Marcas's  place  therefore  was  in  the  political  hurly- 
burly.  As  he  was  poor  and  unable  to  procure  an 
election,  he  must  make  himself  manifest  suddenly. 
He  resolved  to  make  the  most  costly  of  all  sacrifices 
to  a  man  of  superior  talents — to  subordinate  himself 
to  some  wealthy  and  ambitious  deputy,  for  whom 
he  would  work.  Another  Bonaparte,  he  looked 
about  for  his  Barras;  this  other  Colbert  hoped  to 
find  a  Mazarin.  He  rendered  enormous  services; 
he  rendered  them — and,  by  the  way,  he  did  not 
strut,  and  play  the  great  man  and  shriek  ingratitude 


26  Z.   MARCAS 

— he  rendered  them  in  the  hope  that  his  patron 
would  put  him  in  a  position  to  be  chosen  deputy: 
Marcas  desired  nothing  more  than  the  loan  of  a 
sufficient  sum  to  purchase  a  house  in  Paris,  in  order 
to  satisfy  the  requirements  of  the  law.  Richard  III. 
wanted  nothing  but  his  horse. 

"In  three  years  Marcas  created  one  of  the  fifty 
or  more  alleged  political  notabilities  who  are  the 
rackets  with  which  two  cunning  hands  toss  cabinet 
portfolios  back  and  forth,  precisely  as  the  manager 
of  a  puppet-show  jostles  Punch  and  the  police-officer 
against  each  other  on  his  open-air  stage,  hoping 
always  to  increase  his  receipts.  That  man  existed 
only  by  favor  of  Marcas;  but  he  had  just  enough 
wit  to  appreciate  the  worth  of  his  editor,  to  know 
that  Marcas,  when  he  had  once  attained  power, 
would  remain  as  an  indispensable  man,  while  he 
would  be  banished  to  the  polar  colonies  of  the 
Luxembourg.  He  resolved  therefore  to  place  in- 
superable obstacles  in  the  way  of  his  manager's 
advancement,  and  concealed  that  thought  beneath 
the  shibboleth  of  absolute  devotion.  Like  all  small- 
minded  men,  he  had  marvelous  skill  in  dissembling; 
and  then  he  advanced  rapidly  in  the  path  of 
ingratitude,  for  he  must  kill  off  Marcas,  in  order  not 
to  be  killed  off  by  him.  Those  two  men,  apparently 
so  closely  united,  hated  each  other  as  soon  as  one 
of  them  had  deceived  the  other.  The  statesman 
was  a  member  of  a  ministry,  Marcas  remained  in 
the  opposition  to  prevent  any  attack  upon  his 
minister,  for  whom,  by  a  master-stroke,  he  obtained 


Z.   MARCAS  27 

laudatory  words  from  the  opposition.  To  avoid 
rewarding  his  lieutenant,  the  statesman  alleged  the 
impracticability  of  giving  a  place  to  a  member  of  the 
opposition  abruptly  and  without  clever  manoeuvring. 
Marcas  had  relied  upon  an  office  to  put  him  in 
position  to  obtain,  by  means  of  a  marriage,  the 
eligibility  he  so  earnestly  desired.  He  was  thirty- 
two  years  old,  he  foresaw  the  speedy  dissolution  of 
the  Chamber.  Having  caught  the  minister  in  the 
act  of  dealing  in  bad  faith  with  him,  he  overthrew 
him,  or  at  all  events  contributed  largely  to  his  fall, 
and  rolled  him  in  the  mire. 

"Every  fallen  minister  must,  in  order  to  regain 
his  position,  show  that  he  is  to  be  feared;  this  man, 
whom  the  royal  eloquence  had  intoxicated,  who  had 
believed  himself  to  be  safe  in  his  ministerial  office 
for  a  long  while  to  come,  realized  the  mistake  he 
had  made;  when  he  confessed  it,  he  rendered  some 
slight  service  in  a  financial  way  to  Marcas,  who  had 
run  in  debt  during  the  struggle.  He  gave  his  support 
to  the  newspaper  on  which  Marcas  was  employed, 
and  had  him  made  its  manager.  Although  he 
despised  the  man,  Marcas,  who  was  accepting 
earnest-money,  so  to  speak,  consented  to  seem  to 
make  common  cause  with  the  fallen  minister. 
Without  unmasking  as  yet  all  the  batteries  of  his 
superiority,  Marcas  pushed  forward  farther  than 
before;  he  displayed  half  of  his  cunning.  The 
ministry  lasted  only  a  hundred  and  eighty  days;  it 
was  overwhelmed.  Marcas,  having  come  in  contact 
with  certain  deputies,  had  handled  them  like  putty, 


28  Z.   MARCAS 

leaving  in  the  minds  of  all  of  them  an  exalted  idea 
of  his  talents.  Once  more  his  manikin  had  a  seat 
in  a  ministry,  and  the  newspaper  became  a  minis- 
terial organ.  The  ministry  combined  it  with  another 
sheet,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  crushing  Marcas,  who, 
as  a  result  of  the  fusion,  was  obliged  to  make  way 
for  a  rich  and  insolent  rival,  already  well-known 
and  with  his  foot  in  the  stirrup.  Marcas  was  thrown 
back  into  the  most  profound  destitution;  his  arrogant 
protege  well  knew  into  what  an  abyss  he  was  hurling 
him.  Where  should  he  go?  The  ministerial  jour- 
nals, being  secretly  warned  against  him,  would 
have  none  of  him.  The  organs  of  the  opposition 
were  reluctant  to  admit  him  to  their  offices.  Marcas 
could  not  go  over  to  the  republicans  or  the  legiti- 
mists, two  parties  whose  triumph  means  the  overturn 
of  existing  institutions. 

"  'Ambitious  men  love  realities,'  he  said  to  us  with 
a  smile. 

"He  made  a  living  by  occasional  articles  relative 
to  certain  commercial  enterprises.  He  worked  upon 
one  of  the  encyclopaedias  which  speculation,  not 
learning,  attempted  to  produce.  At  last  a  newspaper 
was  founded,  which  was  destined  to  last  only  two 
years,  but  for  which  Marcas's  services  as  editor 
were  sought.  Thereupon  he  renewed  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  minister's  enemies,  he  was  able  to 
join  the  party  that  sought  the  downfall  of  the 
ministry;  and  when  his  pickaxe  once  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  work,  the  administration  was  demolished. 

"Marcas's  newspaper  had  been  dead  six  months; 


Z.   MARCAS  29 

he  had  been  unable  to  find  employment  anywhere, 
he  was  represented  as  a  dangerous  man,  calumny 
was  busy  with  his  name:  he  had  wrecked  a  vast 
financial  and  industrial  undertaking  by  an  article  or 
two  and  a  pamphlet.  He  was  known  to  be  the 
mouthpiece  of  a  banker,  who,  it  was  said,  had  paid 
him  handsomely  and  from  whom  he  expected  some 
favors,  of  course,  in  return  for  his  devotion.  Dis- 
gusted with  men  and  things,  exhausted  by  a  five 
years'  struggle,  Marcas,  who  was  looked  upon  as  a 
condottiere  rather  than  a  great  captain,  crushed  by 
the  necessity  of  earning  his  bread,  which  prevented 
him  from  gaining  ground,  driven  to  despair  by  the 
influence  of  money  on  men's  thoughts,  and  reduced 
to  the  most  horrible  destitution — Marcas,  I  say,  had 
retreated  to  his  attic,  where  he  earned  thirty  sous  a 
day,  the  amount  absolutely  necessary  for  his  needs. 
Meditation  had  stretched  a  desert,  as  it  were,  about 
him.  He  read  the  newspapers  in  order  to  keep 
abreast  of  the  times.  Pozzo  di  Borgo  was  in  the 
same  plight  for  some  time.  Marcas  was  evidently 
maturing  plans  for  a  serious  attack,  he  was  accustom- 
ing himself  to  dissimulation  perhaps,  and  was  chas- 
tising himself  for  his  errors  by  Pythagorean  silence. 
He  did  not  disclose  his  reasons  to  us. 

"It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  high  comedy 
scenes  that  lay  beneath  this  algebraic  condensation 
of  his  life:  the  fruitless  patrolling  at  the  feet  of 
elusive  fortune,  the  long  pursuits  through  the 
Parisian  underbrush,  the  hurried  journeys  of  the 
petitioner,  gasping  for  breath,  the  experiments  tried 


30  Z.   MARCAS 

upon  idiots,  the  lofty  projects  rendered  abortive  by 
the  influence  of  a  foolish  woman,  the  conferences 
with  rich  tradesmen,  who  insisted  that  their  funds 
should  yield  peerages  and  boxes  at  the  opera,  as 
well  as  large  interest;  the  hopes  that  reached  the 
summit  of  fulfilment  only  to  fall  back  upon  the 
breakers;  the  marvels  performed  in  reconciling 
opposed  interests,  which  separated  after  walking 
happily  together  for  a  week;  the  constantly  recur- 
ring chagrin  of  seeing  an  imbecile  decorated  with  the 
Legion  of  Honor,  and,  although  ignorant  as  a  clerk, 
preferred  to  the  man  of  talent;  and  then  what  Marcas 
called  the  stratagems  of  idiocy:  you  make  an 
impression  on  a  man,  he  appears  to  be  convinced,  he 
nods  his  head,  and  everything  seems  to  be  all  right; 
the  next  morning  that  elastic  mass,  compressed  for 
a  moment,  has  resumed  its  former  shape  during  the 
night,  it  is  puffed  up  even  more  than  before,  and 
you  must  begin  anew;  you  work  away  at  it  until 
you  find  that  you  are  not  dealing  with  a  man  at  all, 
but  with  a  gummy  substance  that  dries  up  in  the  sun. 
"These  innumerable  discomfitures,  this  immense 
loss  of  human  strength  wasted  upon  barren  fields, 
the  difficulty  of  effecting  any  good  result,  the 
incredible  ease  with  which  one  can  do  evil;  the  two 
great  games  he  had  played,  twice  won,  twice  lost; 
the  hatred  of  a  statesman,  a  blockhead  with  a 
painted  mask  and  false  hair,  but  a  man  in  whom 
people  believed; — all  these  things,  great  and  small, 
had  not  discouraged  Marcas,  but  had  prostrated  him 
for  the  moment.  In  the  days  when  money  had 


Z.   MARCAS  31 

come  to  him,  his  hands  had  not  retained  it,  he  had 
given  himself  the  divine  pleasure  of  sending  it  all  to 
his  family,  his  sisters,  his  brothers,  his  old  father. 
Like  the  fallen  Napoleon,  he  needed  only  thirty  sous 
a  day,  and  any  man  of  energy  can  always  earn  his 
thirty  sous  in  Paris. 

"When  Marcas  had  finished  the  story  of  his  life, 
which  was  interspersed  with  reflections,  maxims 
and  remarks  that  indicated  the  great  politician,  it 
required  only  a  few  questions  and  answers  concern- 
ing the  trend  of  affairs  in  France  and  in  Europe,  to 
convince  us  that  Marcas  was  a  genuine  statesman, 
for  men  may  be  quickly  and  readily  judged  as  soon 
as  they  consent  to  enter  the  domain  of  difficulties: 
there  is  a  shibboleth  for  men  of  superior  mind,  and 
we  were  of  the  tribe  of  modern  Levites,  but  were 
not  yet  within  the  temple.  As  I  have  told  you,  our 
frivolous  life  concealed  the  projects  which  Juste  for 
his  part  has  already  executed,  and  those  which  I  am 
on  the  point  of  putting  into  execution. 

"After  the  conversation  I  have  described,  we  all 
went  out  together,  and,  pending  the  arrival  of  the 
dinner  hour,  we  walked  in  the  Luxembourg  garden, 
notwithstanding  the  cold.  During  that  walk  our 
conversation,  still  serious  in  tone,  touched  upon  the 
deplorable  facts  of  the  political  situation.  Each  of 
us  contributed  his  observation  or  his  aphorism,  his 
jest  or  his  maxim.  We  no  longer  dwelt  exclusively 
upon  the  life  of  colossal  proportions  which  Marcas, 
the  soldier  of  political  battles,  had  depicted  to  us. 
It  was  no  longer  the  depressing  monologue  of  the 


32  Z.   MARCAS 

I 

navigator  stranded  in  the  garret  of  the  Hotel 
Corneille,  but  a  dialogue  in  which  two  well  informed 
young  men,  who  had  formed  their  own  opinions 
concerning  the  times  in  which  they  lived,  sought, 
under  the  guidance  of  a  man  of  talent,  to  cast  some 
light  upon  their  own  future. 

"  'Why,'  Juste  asked  him,  'did  you  not  patiently 
await  an  opportunity,  why  did  you  not  imitate  the 
only  man  who  has  succeeded  in  keeping  his  head 
always  above  water  since  the  Revolution  of  July?' 

"  'Did  I  not  tell  you  that  we  do  not  know  all  the 
roots  of  chance?  Carrel  was  in  a  position  identical 
with  that  of  the  orator  you  mention.  That  dark- 
browed  young  man,  that  caustic  mind  carried  a 
whole  government  in  his  brain;  the  man  you  refer 
to  has  no  other  idea  than  to  ride  en  croupe  behind 
every  event:  of  the  two,  Carrel  was  the  strong  man. 
Well,  one  becomes  a  minister,  Carrel  remains  a 
journalist;  the  incomplete  but  crafty  man  lives; 
Carrel  dies.  I  ask  you  to  observe  that  that  man  has 
spent  fifteen  years  in  making  his  way  and  that  he 
has  as  yet  only  partially  succeeded;  he  may  be 
caught  and  crushed  between  two  wagons  loaded 
with  intrigues  on  the  high  road  to  power.  He  has  no 
house:  he  has  not,  like  Metternich,  the  palace  of 
favor,  or,  like  Villele,  the  sheltering  roof  of  a  compact 
majority.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  present  form  of 
government  will  exist  ten  years  hence.  But,  even 
supposing  that  that  melancholy  joy  is  in  store  for 
me,  I  shall  not  be  in  a  position  to  avail  myself  of  it, 
for,  in  order  not  to  be  swept  away  in  the  upheaval 


Z.  MARC  AS  33 

which  I  foresee,  I  must  already  have  attained  a  lofty 
position.' 

"  'What  upheaval?'  said  Juste. 

"'AUGUST,  1830,'  replied  Marcas  solemnly, 
stretching  out  his  hand  toward  Paris, — 'AUGUST, 
1830,  brought  about  by  youth,  which  bound  the 
sheaves,  by  intelligence,  which  ripened  the  harvest, 
forgot  the  part  borne  by  youth  and  intelligence! 
Youth  will  burst  like  the  boiler  of  a  steam-engine. 
Youth  has  no  outlet  in  France,  it  is  heaping  up  an 
avalanche  of  unappreciated  talents,  of  legitimate, 
restless  ambitions;  it  marries  seldom,  families  do 
not  know  what  to  do  with  their  children.  What 
shock  will  shake  those  masses?  I  do  not  know;  but 
they  will  rush  headlong  into  the  present  state  of 
affairs  and  reduce  it  to  chaos.  The  laws  of  fluctua- 
tion govern  successive  generations,  and  those  laws 
the  Roman  Empire  disregarded  when  the  barbarians 
appeared  on  the  scene.  To-day  the  barbarians  are 
the  neglected  talents.  The  laws  of  overflow  are 
acting  at  this  moment,  slowly,  secretly,  among  us. 
The  government  is  the  great  culprit,  it  slights  the  two 
powers  to  which  it  owes  everything,  it  has  allowed 
its  hands  to  be  bound  by  the  absurdities  of  the  con- 
tract, it  is  all  ready  to  be  victimized.  Louis  XIV., 
Napoleon,  England,  were  and  are  greedy  to  obtain 
intelligent  youth.  In  France,  youth  is  condemned 
by  the  new  regime,  by  the  hateful  conditions  of  the 
elective  principle,  by  the  vices  of  the  ministerial 
constitution.  If  you  examine  the  make-up  of  the 
Elective  Chamber,  you  will  find  no  deputies  of 
3 


34  Z-   MARCAS 

thirty  or  younger:  the  youth  of  Richelieu  and 
Mazarin,  the  youth  of  Turenne  and  Colbert,  the 
youth  of  Pitt  and  Saint- Just,  the  youth  of  Napoleon 
and  Prince  Metternich  would  find  no  place  there. 
Burke,  Sheridan,  Fox  could  find  no  seat  in  that 
chamber.  Even  if  the  political  majority  had  been 
placed  at  twenty-one  years  and  all  restrictions  of 
every  sort  upon  eligibility  had  been  removed,  the 
departments  would  still  have  chosen  the  present 
deputies,  men  without  any  sort  of  political  talent, 
incapable  of  speaking  without  murdering  the  gram- 
mar, and  among  whom  hardly  a  single  statesman 
has  appeared  in  ten  years.  We  can  divine  the 
causes  of  future  events,  but  we  cannot  foresee  the 
events  themselves.  At  this  moment  the  whole 
younger  generation  is  being  driven  into  republican- 
ism, because  it  must  inevitably  see  in  the  republic 
its  emancipation.  It  will  remember  the  young 
representatives  of  the  people  and  the  young  generals 
of  a  past  age!  The  folly  of  the  government  is 
comparable  only  to  its  avarice.' 

"That  day  had  a  marked  influence  on  our  lives. 
Marcas  strengthened  our  determination  to  leave 
France,  where  young  men  of  eminent  capacity, 
overflowing  with  energy,  were  crushed  under  the 
weight  of  upstart  mediocrities,  jealous  and  insatiable. 
We  dined  together  on  Rue  de  la  Harpe.  Thence- 
forth we  felt  the  most  respectful  affection  for  him; 
he,  in  return,  accorded  us  most  efficient  assistance 
in  the  sphere  of  ideas.  The  man  knew  everything, 
he  had  gone  to  the  bottom  of  everything.  He 


Z.   MARCAS  35 

studied  the  political  globe  for  us,  looking  for  the 
country  where  the  chances  were  most  numerous  and 
at  the  same  time  most  favorable  to  the  success  of 
our  plans.  He  marked  out  for  us  the  points  to 
which  our  studies  should  be  directed;  he  urged  us  to 
hasten,  dwelling  upon  the  value  of  time,  insisting 
that  the  emigration  would  certainly  take  place,  that 
its  effect  would  be  to  rob  France  of  the  cream  of  her 
energetic,  youthful  minds;  that  those  minds,  neces- 
sarily keen  and  far-seeing,  would  choose  the  best 
places  and  that  it  was  most  important  to  anticipate 
them.  After  that,  we  often  sat  together  far  into 
the  night,  by  lamplight.  Our  generous  master 
wrote  several  notes  for  us — two  for  Juste  and  three 
for  me — which  contain  admirable  counsel,  the  infor- 
mation that  experience  alone  can  give,  the  land- 
marks that  only  genius  can  set  up.  In  those  pages, 
saturated  with  tobacco  smoke  and  covered  with 
hieroglyphic  characters,  there  are  signposts  to  for- 
tune, predictions  of  unerring  accuracy.  There  are 
prophetic  suggestions  concerning  certain  points  in 
America  and  Asia,  which  were  fulfilled  before  and 
after  Juste  and  1  were  able  to  start. 

"Marcas  had  reached,  like  ourselves,  the  lowest 
stage  of  destitution;  to  be  sure  he  earned  enough  to 
keep  him  alive,  but  he  had  neither  linen  nor  clothes 
nor  shoes.  He  did  not  pretend  to  be  better  than  he 
was:  he  had  dreamed  of  a  luxurious  life  when  he 
dreamed  of  wielding  power.  Therefore  he  did  not 
recognize  himself  as  the  real  Marcas.  He  abandoned 
his  exterior  to  the  caprice  of  real  life.  He  lived  by 


36  Z.  MARC  AS 

the  breath  of  his  ambition,  he  dreamed  of  vengeance 
and  rebuked  himself  for  yielding  to  so  despicable  a 
sentiment.  The  true  statesman  should  be,  above 
all  things,  indifferent  to  vulgar  passions;  he  ought, 
like  the  scientist,  to  take  a  passionate  interest  in 
naught  besides  matters  pertaining  to  his  special 
science.  It  was  in  those  days  of  poverty  that  Mar- 
cas  seemed  to  us  truly  great,  even  awe-inspiring; 
there  was  something  terrifying  in  his  glance,  which 
viewed  a  different  world  from  that  upon  which  the 
eyes  of  ordinary  mortals  rest.  He  was  to  us  a  sub- 
ject of  study  and  astonishment,  for  youth — which  of 
us  has  not  experienced  it? — youth  feels  keenly  the 
need  of  admiration;  it  loves  to  cling  to  somebody,  it 
is  naturally  inclined  to  subordinate  itself  to  men 
whom  it  deems  superior,  even  as  it  devotes  itself  to 
great  things.  Our  wonder  was  aroused  most  of  all 
by  his  indifference  in  the  matter  of  sentiment: 
woman  had  never  disturbed  his  life.  When  we 
mentioned  that  everlasting  subject  of  conversation 
among  Frenchmen,  he  said  simply: 

"  'Dresses  cost  too  much!' 

"He  saw  the  glance  Juste  and  I  exchanged,  and 
he  continued: 

"  'Yes,  they  cost  too  much.  The  woman  you 
buy,  and  she  is  the  least  expensive,  wants  a  great 
deal  of  money;  the  woman  who  gives  herself  to  you 
takes  all  your  time!  Woman  extinguishes  all 
energy,  all  ambition.  Napoleon  reduced  her  to 
what  she  should  be.  In  that  respect  he  was 
great,  he  did  not  yield  to  the  ruinous  fancies  of 


Z.   MARCAS  37 

Louis  XIV.  and  Louis  XV.;  but  he  loved  in  secret, 
none  the  less.' 

"We  discovered  that,  like  Pitt,  who  took  England 
to  wife,  Marcas  wore  France  on  his  heart;  he  wor- 
shiped his  fatherland  as  an  idol;  he  had  not  a 
single  thought  that  was  not  for  his  country.  His 
frenzy  at  the  thought  that  he  held  in  his  hands 
the  remedy  for  the  disease  whose  virulence  sad- 
dened him,  and  that  he  had  not  the  power  to 
apply  it,  gnawed  at  his  heart  incessantly;  but  that 
frenzy  was  made  even  more  acute  by  the  infe- 
riority of  France  as  compared  to  Russia  and  Eng- 
land. France  in  the  third  rank!  That  exclamation 
constantly  recurred  in  his  conversation.  The  inter- 
nal malady  of  his  country  had  attacked  his 
entrails.  He  characterized  as  the  petty  bickerings 
of  a  street  porter  the  disputes  of  the  court  with 
the  Chamber,  evidenced  by  the  incessant  changes 
and  agitation,  which  impaired  the  prosperity  of 
the  country. 

"  'They  give  us  peace  by  discounting  the  future/ 
he  said. 

"One  evening  Juste  and  I  were  busy  at  work 
and  absolutely  silent.  Marcas  had  risen  to  work  at 
his  copying,  for  he  had  refused  our  services,  despite 
our  insistence.  We  had  offered  to  divide  his  task 
with  him,  so  that  he  would  have  only  a  third  of  the 
monotonous  work  to  do;  he  lost  his  temper,  so  we 
insisted  no  farther.  We  heard  the  sound  of  fine 
boots  in  our  corridor,  and  we  raised  our  heads 
and  looked  at  each  other.  Somebody  knocked  at 


189933 


38  Z.  MARCAS 

Marcas's  door,  the  key  of  which  was  always  left  in 
the  lock.  We  heard  our  great  man  say: 

"'Come  in!' 

"Then: 

"  'You  here,  monsieur?' 

"  'Myself,'  replied  the  ex-minister. 

"It  was  the  obscure  martyr's  Diocletian. 

"He  and  our  neighbor  talked  together  for  some 
time  in  undertones.  Suddenly  Marcas, — whose 
voice  we  had  heard  only  at  rare  intervals,  as  is 
usually  the  case  in  an  interview  in  which  the  one 
who  seeks  it  begins  by  making  a  preliminary  state- 
ment,— burst  out  at  a  proposition  which  we  could 
not  hear. 

"  'You  would  laugh  at  me,'  he  said,  'if  I  trusted 
you.  The  Jesuits  have  gone  by,  but  Jesuitism  is 
everlasting.  There  is  no  good  faith  either  in  your 
Machiavelianism  or  in  your  generosity.  You  know 
what  to  expect;  but  no  one  knows  what  to  expect 
with  you.  Your  court  is  composed  of  owls  who  are 
afraid  of  the  light,  of  old  men  who  tremble  before 
the  younger  generation  or  else  give  no  thought  to  it. 
The  government  models  itself  on  the  court.  You 
went  forth  to  seek  the  remains  of  the  Empire,  as  the 
Restoration  enrolled  the  sharpshooters  of  Louis 
XIV.  Thus  far  the  backward  movements  of  fear  and 
cowardice  have  been  taken  for  the  manoeuvres  of 
skilful  generalship;  but  the  dangers  will  come,  and 
the  youth  will  rise  as  in  1790.  They  did  grand 
things  in  those  days.  At  this  moment  you  change 
ministers  as  a  sick  man  changes  his  position  in  bed. 


Z.   MARCAS  39 

These  fluctuations  display  the  weakness  of  your 
government.  You  have  a  system  of  political 
chicanery  which  will  be  turned  against  you,  for 
France  will  tire  of  this  shuffling.  France  will  not 
tell  you  that  it  is  tired,  no  one  ever  knows  how  he 
dies,  the  wherefore  is  the  business  of  the  historian; 
but  you  will  certainly  die  because  you  did  not  call 
upon  the  youth  of  France  to  exert  its  strength  and 
its  energy,  its  loyalty  and  its  ardor;  because  you 
hated  capable  men,  because  you  did  not  with  loving 
hand  select  them  from  that  glorious  generation, 
because  you  preferred  mediocrity  in  everything. 
You  come  to  ask  for  my  support;  but  you  belong  to 
that  incapable  mass,  rendered  hideous  by  self- 
interest,  which  is  trembling  and  shriveling  up,  and 
which,  because  it  is  dwindling  away  to  nothing, 
seeks  to  make  France  do  the  same.  My  energetic 
nature,  my  ideas  would  have  the  effect  of  a  poison 
on  you;  twice  you  have  tricked  me,  twice  I  have 
overturned  you,  as  you  know.  It  must  be  a  very 
serious  matter  that  can  bring  us  together  a  third 
time.  I  would  kill  myself  if  I  allowed  myself  to  be 
made  a  dupe,  for  I  should  despair  of  myself:  I  should 
be  the  culprit,  not  you.' 

"Thereupon  we  heard  the  most  humble  words, 
the  most  heartfelt  entreaties  not  to  deprive  the 
country  of  his  superior  talents.  He  spoke  of  the 
country,  and  Marcas  uttered  a  significant  Oho! — he 
laughed  in  the  face  of  his  pretended  patron.  The 
statesman  became  more  explicit;  he  acknowledged 
the  superiority  of  his  former  adviser,  he  agreed  to 


40  Z.   MARC  AS 

put  him  in  a  position  to  remain  in  the  administration, 
to  become  a  deputy;  then  he  offered  him  an  impor- 
tant office,  saying  to  him  that  thenceforth  he,  the 
minister,  would  subordinate  himself  to  one  whose 
lieutenant  and  nothing  more  he  was  qualified  to  be. 
He  was  included  in  the  new  ministerial  combination, 
and  he  did  not  choose  to  return  to  power  unless 
Marcas  had  a  place  suited  to  his  deserts;  he  had 
mentioned  that  condition  and  Marcas  had  been 
included  as  a  necessity. 

"Marcas  refused. 

"  'I  have  never  been  placed  in  a  position  to  fulfil 
my  obligations,  here  is  an  opportunity  to  be  faithful 
to  my  promises,  and  you  fail  me!' 

"Marcas  made  no  reply  to  this  last  sentence. 
We  heard  the  boots  again  in  the  corridor,  and  the 
sound  moved  toward  the  staircase. 

"  'Marcas!  Marcas!'  we  cried  in  unison,  rushing 
into  his  room,  'why  do  you  refuse?  He  was  acting 
in  good  faith.  His  conditions  are  honorable. 
Furthermore,  you  will  see  the  ministers.' 

"In  a  twinkling  we  gave  Marcas  a  hundred 
reasons.  The  future  minister's  words  rang  true;  as 
far  as  we  could  judge  without  seeing  him,  he  was 
not  lying. 

"  'I  have  no  clothes!'  Marcas  replied. 

"  'Rely  on  us,'  said  Juste,  glancing  at  me. 

"Marcas  had  the  courage  to  trust  us,  a  gleam 
shot  from  his  eyes,  he  ran  his  hand  through  his  hair 
and  threw  it  back  from  his  forehead  with  a  gesture 
denoting  faith  in  good  fortune,  and  when  he  had,  so 


Z.   MARCAS  41 

to  speak,  removed  the  veil  from  his  face,  we  saw  a 
man  who  was  an  utter  stranger  to  us;  a  sublime 
Marcas,  Marcas  with  power  in  his  grasp,  the  mind 
in  its  element,  the  bird  restored  to  freedom,  the  fish 
back  in  the  water,  the  horse  galloping  over  the 
prairie.  It  was  momentary;  the  brow  became  dark 
once  more,  he  had  a  sort  of  vision  of  his  destiny. 
Limping  doubt  followed  close  behind  white-winged 
hope.  We  left  the  man  to  himself. 

"  'Well,'  I  said  to  the  Doctor,  'we  have  promised, 
but  how  are  we  to  do  it?' 

"  'Let  us  sleep  on  it,'  Juste  replied,  'and  to-mor- 
row morning  we  will  exchange  ideas.' 

"The  next  morning  we  took  a  turn  in  the  Luxem- 
bourg garden. 

"We  had  had  time  to  reflect  on  the  occurrence  of 
the  night  before,  and  we  were  equally  surprised  by 
Marcas's  lack  of  shrewdness  in  the  petty  affairs  of 
life,  whereas  he  had  no  difficulty  in  solving  the  most 
puzzling  problems  of  practical  or  theoretical  politics. 
But  such  exalted  natures  are  all  likely  to  stumble 
over  grains  of  sand,  to  miss  the  most  promising 
opportunities  for  lack  of  a  thousand  francs.  That  is 
the  history  of  Napoleon,  who  did  not  start  for  India 
because  he  had  no  boots. 

"  'What  have  you  thought  of?'  Juste  asked  me. 

"  'Well,  I  have  thought  of  a  way  of  obtaining 
credit  for  a  complete  outfit.' 

"  'From  whom?' 

"  'From  Humann.' 

"'How?' 


42  Z.   MARCAS 

"  'Humann,  my  dear  fellow,  never  goes  to  his 
customers,  his  customers  go  to  him,  so  that  he 
doesn't  know  whether  I  am  rich  or  poor;  he  simply 
knows  that  I  am  fashionable  and  that  the  clothes  he 
makes  look  well  on  me.  I  am  going  to  tell  him  that 
an  uncle  from  the  provinces  has  dropped  in  on  me, 
whose  indifference  in  the  matter  of  dress  is  most 
prejudicial  to  me  in  the  best  society,  where  I  am 
looking  for  a  wife. — He  would  not  be  Humann  if  he 
sent  his  bill  within  three  months.' 

"The  Doctor  thought  that  that  would  be  an 
excellent  idea  in  a  farce,  but  that  it  was  execrable 
in  real  life,  and  he  doubted  my  success.  But,  I 
give  you  my  word,  Humann  fitted  Marcas  out,  and, 
like  the  artist  that  he  is,  he  dressed  him  as  a 
statesman  should  be  dressed. 

"Juste  offered  Marcas  two  hundred  francs  in 
gold,  lent  by  the  Mont-de-Piete  on  two  watches  pur- 
chased on  credit.  For  my  part,  I  had  said  nothing 
of  six  shirts,  of  everything  that  was  necessary  in 
the  way  of  linen,  which  cost  me  nothing  more  than 
the  pleasure  of  begging  them  from  a  linen-draper's 
forewoman  with  whom  I  had  foregathered  during 
the  carnival.  Marcas  accepted  everything  without 
thanking  us  more  than  he  ought.  He  simply 
inquired  how  we  had  come  into  possession  of  such 
wealth,  and  we  made  him  laugh  for  the  last 
time.  We  watched  Marcas  as  merchants  who 
have  exhausted  all  their  credit  and  all  their 
resources  in  fitting  out  a  vessel  might  watch  it  as 
it  set  sail." 


Z.   MARCAS  43 

At  that  point  Charles  paused;  he  seemed  oppressed 
by  his  memories. 

"Well,"  we  cried,  "what  happened?" 
"I  will  tell  you  in  two  words,  for  this  is  not  a 
novel,  but  a  history.  We  saw  no  more  of  Marcas. 
The  ministry  lasted  three  months,  it  died  after  the 
session.  Marcas  returned  to  us  without  a  sou, 
exhausted  by  hard  work.  He  had  sounded  the 
crater  of  power;  he  returned  to  the  surface  with  the 
beginning  of  a  nervous  fever  upon  him.  The  dis- 
ease made  rapid  progress  and  we  nursed  him.  At 
the  outset  Juste  brought  the  physician-in-chief  of  the 
hospital  that  he  had  entered  as  an  intern.  I  then 
occupied  our  chamber  all  alone,  and  I  was  the  most 
attentive  of  nurses;  but  nursing  and  science  were 
of  no  avail.  In  January,  1838,  Marcas  himself  felt 
that  he  had  only  a  few  days  to  live.  The  statesman 
whose  mind  he  had  been  for  six  months  did  not 
come  to  see  him,  did  not  even  send  to  inquire  for 
him.  Marcas  expressed  the  utmost  contempt  for 
the  government;  he  seemed  to  us  to  entertain  doubts 
concerning  the  ultimate  destiny  of  France,  and 
those  doubts  had  caused  his  illness.  He  believed 
that  he  had  detected  treachery  at  the  heart  of  the 
government;  not  tangible,  palpable  treachery, 
manifested  by  deeds;  but  treachery  due  to  a  system, 
to  the  subordination  of  national  interests  to  selfish- 
ness. His  belief  in  the  deterioration  of  the  country 
was  sufficient  to  aggravate  his  malady.  I  was  a 
witness  to  the  propositions  made  to  him  by  one  of 
the  leading  exponents  of  the  opposite  system  which 


44  Z-    MARCAS 

he  had  fought.  His  detestation  of  the  men  he  had 
tried  to  serve  was  so  fierce  that  he  would  joyfully 
have  consented  to  join  the  coalition  that  was  being 
formed  among  the  ambitious  men  who  had  one  idea, 
if  no  other — that  of  shaking  off  the  yoke  of  the 
court.  But  Marcas  answered  the  emissary  in  the 
words  of  the  H6tel  de  Ville:  'It  is  too  late!' 

"Marcas  did  not  leave  enough  to  pay  for  his 
burial.  Juste  and  I  had  much  difficulty  in  sparing 
him  the  disgrace  of  the  paupers'  van,  and  we  two 
alone  followed  the  hearse  containing  the  body  of  Z. 
Marcas,  which  was  thrown  into  the  common  grave 
in  the  cemetery  of  Mont-Parnasse." 

We  all  gazed  sadly  at  one  another  as  we  listened 
to  this  tale,  the  last  of  those  Charles  Rabourdin 
told  us  on  the  eve  of  the  day  when  he  set  sail  on  a 
brig,  at  Havre,  for  the  Malaysian  Islands,  for  we 
knew  more  than  one  Marcas,  more  than  one  victim 
of  political  devotion  .rewarded  by  treachery  or 
neglect. 

Aux  Jardies,  May,  1840. 


THE  OTHER  SIDE 
OF  CONTEMPORANEOUS   HISTORY 

FIRST  EPISODE 
MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE 


(45) 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE 


On  a  beautiful  evening  in  the  month  of  Sep- 
tember, 1836,  a  man  of  about  thirty  years  of  age 
stood  leaning  against  the  parapet  of  that  quay  from 
which,  looking  upstream,  one  can  see  the  Seine 
from  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  to  Notre-Dame,  and, 
looking  downstream,  the  whole  perspective  of  the 
river  as  far  as  the  Louvre.  There  are  not  two  such 
points  of  view  in  the  whole  capital  of  ideas.  It  is  as 
if  one  were  standing  at  the  stern  of  that  gigantic 
vessel.  There  one  muses  upon  the  history  of  Paris 
from  the  Romans  to  the  Franks,  from  the  Normans 
to  the  Burgundians,  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Valois, 
Henri  IV.  and  Louis  XIV.,  Napoleon  and  Louis- 
Philippe.  Standing  there,  you  see  some  remains  or 
some  monuments  that  recall  all  of  those  dynasties 
and  monarchs  to  our  minds.  Saint-Genevieve  from 
its  cupola  keeps  watch  over  the  Latin  quarter. 
Behind  you  rises  the  magnificent  apse  of  the 
cathedral.  The  Hotel  de  Ville  speaks  to  you  of  all 
the  revolutions  of  Paris  and  the  H6tel-Dieu  of  all  its 
sufferings.  When  you  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  the 
splendors  of  the  Louvre,  by  taking  two  steps  you 
can  see  the  remains  of  that  squalid  mass  of  buildings 
(47) 


48  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

situated  between  Quai  de  la  Tournelle  and  the 
Hatel-Dieu,  which  the  sheriffs  of  to-day  are  at  this 
moment  busily  occupied  in  demolishing. 

In  1835  ^at  wonderful  picture  contained  one 
other  instructive  detail:  between  the  Parisian  lean- 
ing against  the  parapet  and  the  cathedral,  the 
Terrain — such  was  the  ancient  name  of  that  desert 
place — was  still  strewn  with  the  ruins  of  the  arch- 
bishopric. When  from  that  point  one  gazes  upon  so 
many  inspiring  objects,  when  the  mind  embraces  at 
a  glance  the  past  and  the  present  of  the  city  of 
Paris,  it  seems  as  if  religion  had  taken  up  its  quarters 
there  in  order  to  put  forth  its  hands  over  the 
afflictions  of  both  banks,  from  Faubourg  Saint- 
Antoine  to  Faubourg  Saint-Marceau.  Let  us  hope 
that  so  many  sublimely  harmonious  elements  will 
be  fitly  complemented  by  the  construction  of  an 
episcopal  palace  in  the  Gothic  style,  which  will  take 
the  place  of  the  characterless  hovels  between  the 
Terrain,  Rue  d'Arcole,  the  cathedral  and  Quai  de  la 
Cite. 

That  point,  the  heart  of  ancient  Paris,  is  the  most 
solitary,  the  most  melancholy  spot  in  the  whole  city. 
The  waters  of  the  Seine  plash  noisily  against  the 
piers,  the  cathedral  casts  its  shadow  there  at  sunset. 
One  can  understand  how  a  man  afflicted  with  some 
mental  malady  may  be  moved  to  serious  thoughts 
in  such  a  place. 

Attracted  perhaps  by  a  secret  accord  between  the 
thoughts  that  were  in  his  mind  at  the  moment  and 
those  to  which  the  sight  of  such  widely  differing 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  49 

scenes  gave  birth,  the  idler  remained  with  his  hands 
on  the  parapet,  given  over  to  a  twofold  contempla- 
tion: Paris  and  himself!  The  shadows  lengthened, 
lights  twinkled  in  the  distance,  and  still  he  did  not 
move,  absorbed  as  he  was  by  the  current  of  one  of 
those  fits  of  musing  pregnant  with  future  events, 
which  the  past  renders  solemn. 

At  that  moment  he  heard  two  persons  coming 
toward  him,  whose  voices  he  had  noticed  when  they 
were  upon  the  stone  bridge  leading  from  the  island 
of  La  Cite  to  Quai  de  la  Tournelle.  The  two 
persons  in  question  evidently  believed  themselves 
to  be  alone,  and  were  talking  somewhat  louder  than 
they  would  have  done  in  frequented  places  or  if  they 
had  been  aware  of  the  presence  of  a  stranger.  As 
heard  from  the  bridge,  the  voices  indicated  a  discus- 
sion, which,  to  judge  from  some  words  that  reached 
the  ears  of  the  involuntary  witness  of  the  scene, 
related  to  a  loan  of  money.  As  they  approached  the 
man  leaning  against  the  parapet,  one  of  them,  who 
was  dressed  like  a  workingman,  left  the  other,  with 
a  gesture  of  despair.  The  other  turned,  recalled  the 
workingman  and  said  to  him: 

"You  haven't  a  sou  to  cross  the  bridge  again. 
Here,"  he  added,  giving  him  a  piece  of  money; 
"and  remember,  my  friend,  that  it  is  God  himself 
who  speaks  to  us  when  worthy  thoughts  come  to 
our  minds!" 

This  last  sentence  made  our  dreamer  start.  The 
man  who  spoke  thus  did  not  suspect  that  he  was,  to 
use  a  vulgar  expression,  killing  two  birds  with  one 
4 


50  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

stone,  that  he  was  addressing  his  remarks  to  two 
unfortunates:  a  son  of  toil  in  despair  and  a  mind 
without  a  compass;  a  victim  of  what  Panurge's 
sheep*  call  progress,  and  a  victim  of  what  France 
calls  equality.  The  words,  simple  enough  in  them- 
selves, acquired  importance  from  the  accent  of  the 
man  who  uttered  them  and  whose  voice  possessed  a 
sort  of  fascination.  Do  not  calm,  gentle  voices 
harmonize  with  the  effects  produced  on  us  by  gaz- 
ing at  ultramarine. 

By  his  costume  the  Parisian  recognized  a  priest, 
and  by  the  last  rays  of  the  twilight  he  saw  a  white, 
imposing,  but  wasted  face.  The  sight  of  a  priest 
coming  out  of  the  beautiful  cathedral  of  St.  Stephen 
at  Vienna,  to  carry  extreme  unction  to  a  dying  man, 
decided  the  famous  tragic  author  Werner  to  become 
a  Catholic.  It  was  almost  the  same  with  the  Parisian 
when  he  saw  the  man  who  had  unwittingly  given 
him  consolation;  he  descried  on  the  threatening 
horizon  of  his  future  a  long  luminous  streak  in 
which  the  azure  blue  of  heaven  shone  resplendent, 
and  he  followed  that  light  as  the  shepherds  in  the 
Gospel  followed  the  voice  that  called  to  them: 
"Christ  is  born!"  The  man  of  kindly  speech 
walked  along  the  cathedral  wall,  and  bent  his 
steps  by  chance, — which,  by  the  way,  is  sometimes 
logical, — toward  the  street  from  which  our  dreamer 

*  Les  moutons  de  Panurge. — Rabelais  tells  us  that  Panurge,  to  be  revenged  on 
Dindenault,  bought  a  sheep  of  him  and  then  drove  it  overboard,  whereupon 
all  Dindenault's  other  sheep  jumped  over  after  It  and  the  drover  was  ruined: 
hence  the  phrase  Is  used  for  imitators.  It  is  commonly  used  in  the  locution, 
tauter  comme  Us  moutons  de  Panurge— to  jump  like  Panurge's  sheep. 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  51 

came  and  to  which  he  was  returning,  led  thither  by 
the  errors  of  his  life. 

The  dreamer's  name  was  Godefroid.  As  the 
story  progresses,  the  reader  will  understand  the 
reasons  that  lead  us  to  use  only  the  baptismal 
names  of  the  characters.  Let  us  see  why  Gode- 
froid, who  lived  in  the  Chaussee-d'Antin  quarter, 
happened  to  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  Notre-Dame 
at  such  an  hour. 

The  son  of  a  retail  tradesman  who  had  acquired 
a  moderate  fortune  by  dint  of  economy,  he  became 
the  sole  ambition  of  his  father  and  mother,  who 
dreamed  of  seeing  him  a  notary  in  Paris.  With  that 
end  in  view  he  was  placed,  at  the  age  of  seven,  in 
the  institution  of  Abbe  Liautard,  among  the  chil- 
dren of  many  distinguished  families,  who,  under  the 
reign  of  the  Emperor,  through  attachment  to  the 
religion,  which  was  somewhat  slighted  in  the  public 
secondary  schools,  had  selected  that  establishment 
for  the  education  of  their  sons.  Social  inequalities 
were  not  thought  of  among  schoolmates;  but  in  1821, 
when  his  studies  were  finished  and  he  was  given  a 
position  in  a  notary's  office,  Godefroid  was  not  slow 
to  appreciate  the  distance  that  separated  him  from 
those  with  whom  he  had  hitherto  lived  on  familiar 
terms. 

Being  compelled  to  follow  the  course  of  study 
prescribed  for  his  degree,  he  found  himself  an 
indistinguishable  part  of  a  multitude  of  sons  of  the 
bourgeoisie,  who,  without  fortune  or  hereditary 
distinctions,  had  to  rely  wholly  upon  their  personal 


52  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

qualities  or  their  persistent  work.  The  hopes  that 
his  father  and  mother,  who  had  then  retired  from 
business,  based  upon  him,  stimulated  his  self-esteem 
without  making  him  proud.  His  parents  lived 
simply,  in  the  Dutch  fashion,  spending  no  more 
than  the  fourth  of  their  twelve  thousand  francs' 
income;  their  savings,  as  well  as  half  of  their 
capital,  were  intended  for  the  purchase  of  an  office 
for  their  son.  Being  subjected  to  the  laws  of  that 
domestic  economy,  Godefroid  found  his  present 
position  so  at  variance  with  his  parents'  dreams 
and  his  own,  that  he  was  conscious  of  a  feeling  of 
discouragement.  In  weak  natures  discouragement 
becomes  envy.  Whereas  some  others,  in  whom 
necessity,  force  of  will,  the  habit  of  reflection  took 
the  place  of  talent,  marched  straight  and  resolutely 
onward  in  the  path  marked  out  for  ambitious 
bourgeois,  Godefroid  turned  aside  from  it  in  disgust, 
determined  to  shine,  and  turned  his  face  toward  all 
the  brilliantly  illuminated  spots,  which  burned  his 
eyes.  He  tried  to  succeed,  but  all  his  efforts  ended 
in  establishing  his  powerlessness.  When  he  detected 
at  last  a  lack  of  equilibrium  between  his  desires 
and  his  fortune,  he  conceived  a  bitter  hatred  of  all 
social  supremacy,  became  a  liberal  and  tried  to 
attain  celebrity  by  means  of  a  book;  but  he  learned 
at  his  own  expense  to  look  upon  talent  with  the 
same  eye  as  upon  nobility.  Having  tried  the  no- 
tarial office,  the  bar  and  literature  successively,  with- 
out success,  he  determined  to  be  a  magistrate. 
At  that  moment  his  father  died.  His  mother, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  53 

who  was  content  in  her  old  age  with  two  thousand 
francs  a  year,  turned  over  almost  the  whole  of  his 
father's  fortune  to  him.  The  possessor,  at  twenty- 
five,  of  an  income  of  ten  thousand  francs,  he  deemed 
himself  rich,  and  so  he  was  in  comparison  with  his 
past.  Up  to  that  time  his  life  had  been  composed 
of  acts  in  which  his  own  will  had  no  part,  of 
unsatisfied  desires;  and  in  order  to  go  forward  with 
his  century,  to  do  something,  to  play  a  part,  he 
attempted  to  make  his  way  into  some  sort  of  society 
with  the  aid  of  his  fortune.  First  of  all  he  fell  in 
with  journalism,  which  always  opens  its  arms  to 
the  first  capital  it  sees.  To  be  proprietor  of  a 
newspaper  is  to  become  a  personage:  you  speculate 
in  intelligence,  you  share  its  pleasures  without 
sharing  its  labors.  Nothing  is  more  tempting  to 
inferior  minds  than  to  rise  to  eminence  thus  upon 
another's  talent.  Paris  has  seen  two  or  three 
parvenus  of  that  sort,  whose  success  is  a  disgrace 
both  to  the  age  we  live  in  and  to  those  who  have 
lent  them  their  shoulders  to  stand  upon. 

In  that  sphere,  Godefroid  was  outdone  by  the 
vulgar  Machiavelianism  of  some  and  the  prodigality 
of  others,  by  the  wealth  of  ambitious  capitalists  or 
by  the  wit  of  editors;  then  too  he  was  drawn  into 
the  various  forms  of  dissipation  to  which  literary  or 
political  life  and  the  methods  of  criticism  in  vogue  in 
the  wings  are  likely  to  lead,  and  into  the  distrac- 
tions that  busily  occupied  minds  find  necessary. 
He  fell  into  bad  company;  but  he  learned  that  he 
had  an  unimposing  figure,  that  one  of  his  shoulders 


54  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

was  perceptibly  higher  than  the  other,  and  that  the 
deformity  was  not  redeemed  either  by  the  bitterness 
or  kindliness  of  his  wit.  Bad  taste  is  the  salary 
that  artists  draw  upon  when  they  tell  the  truth. 

Short  of  stature,  badly  built,  devoid  of  wit  and  of 
sustained  purpose,  it  seemed  a  hopeless  case  for  a 
young  man  at  a  time  when  the  combination  of  the 
loftiest  mental  qualities  counts  little  for  success  in 
any  career,  without  good  luck  or  the  tenacity  which 
is  equivalent  to  good  luck. 

The  revolution  of  1830  poured  balm  upon  Gode- 
froid's  wounds;  he  had  the  courage  of  hope,  which 
is  not  inferior  to  the  courage  of  despair;  he  obtained, 
like  so  many  obscure  journalists,  his  own  appoint- 
ment to  an  administrative  office  where  his  liberal 
ideas,  being  at  variance  with  the  exigencies  of  the 
new  powers,  made  of  him  a  rebellious  subject. 
Being  anointed  with  liberalism,  he  was  unable,  like 
several  men  of  superior  parts,  to  make  up  his  mind. 
To  obey  ministers  meant  in  his  eyes  to  change  his 
opinions.  Moreover  the  government  seemed  to  him 
to  disregard  the  laws  of  its  origin.  Godefroid 
declared  himself  on  the  side  of  movement  when  it 
was  a  question  of  resistance,  and  he  returned  to 
Paris  almost  poor,  but  faithful  to  the  doctrines  of 
the  opposition. 

Alarmed  by  the  excesses  of  the  press,  even  more 
alarmed  by  the  plots  of  the  republican  party,  he 
sought  in  retirement  the  only  life  suited  to  a  person 
whose  faculties  were  incomplete,  who  lacked  force 
to  stand  up  amid  the  rough  turmoil  of  political  life, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  55 

whose  sufferings  and  struggling  attracted  no  atten- 
tion, who  was  exhausted  by  his  failures,  who  had 
no  friends  because  friendship  implies  striking  quali- 
ties, either  good  or  bad,  and  whose  sensibilities 
were  rather  dreamy  than  profound.  Was  it  not  the 
only  possible  course  for  a  young  man  whom  pleasure 
had  already  deceived  more  than  once  and  who  was 
already  aged  by  contact  with  a  society  as  prone  to 
excite  others  as  it  was  itself  easily  excited? 

His  mother,  who  died  in  the  quiet  village  of 
Auteuil,  sent  for  her  son  before  her  death,  for  the 
twofold  purpose  of  having  him  at  her  side  and  of 
putting  him  in  the  way  to  find  the  peaceful,  simple 
happiness  which  is  adapted  to  satisfy  such  minds  as 
his.  She  had  at  last  judged  Godefroid  rightly, 
when  she  found  him  at  twenty-eight  years  of  age 
with  his  fortune  reduced  to  four  thousand  francs  a 
year,  his  aspirations  crushed,  his  supposed  capacity 
vanished,  his  energy  gone,  his  ambition  humbled 
and  his  hatred  of  everyone  who  made  his  way  by 
legitimate  means  aggravated  by  all  his  failures. 
She  tried  to  marry  Godefroid  to  the  only  daughter 
of  a  retired  tradesman,  a  young  woman  who  might 
serve  as  nurse  to  her  son's  diseased  mind;  but  the 
father  had  the  calculating  spirit  that  does  not 
abandon  an  old  tradesman  in  driving  matrimonial 
bargains,  and  after  a  year  of  neighborly  attentions, 
Godefroid  was  not  accepted.  In  the  first  place,  in 
the  eyes  of  those  aspiring  bourgeois,  the  suitor  was 
certain  to  be  deeply  tainted  with  immorality  as  a 
result  of  his  previous  career;  secondly,  during  that 


56  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

year  he  had  encroached  still  farther  upon  his 
capital,  partly  to  dazzle  the  parents,  partly  to 
please  their  daughter.  This  very  pardonable  vanity 
on  his  part  decided  the  refusal  of  the  family,  in 
which  dissipation  was  held  in  horror,  as  soon  as  they 
learned  that  Godefroid  had  lost  a  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  francs  of  capital  in  six  years. 

The  blow  penetrated  the  deeper  into  that  heart, 
already  so  sorely  bruised,  because  the  young 
woman  was  not  beautiful.  But  Godefroid,  assisted 
by  the  information  he  received  from  his  mother, 
had  discovered  that  she  possessed  a  thoughtful  mind 
and  the  very  great  advantage  of  a  vigorous  intellect; 
he  had  become  accustomed  to  her  face,  he  had 
studied  her  features,  he  loved  her  voice,  her  man- 
ners, her  expression.  Having  risked  the  last  stake 
of  his  life  on  that  attachment,  he  experienced  the 
bitterest  of  disappointments.  His  mother  died,  and 
he,  whose  necessities  had  followed  the  constant 
progress  of  luxurious  habits,  found  himself  with  no 
more  than  five  thousand  francs  a  year,  and  with  the 
certainty  that  he  should  never  be  able  to  make  up 
any  loss  whatever,  because  he  knew  himself  to  be 
incapable  of  the  energy  implied  in  the  formidable 
phrase:  to  make  one's  fortune! 

Impatient,  disappointed  weakness  does  not  con- 
sent to  efface  itself  all  at  once.  So  it  was  that, 
during  his  mourning,  Godefroid  sought  favorable 
chances  in  Paris:  he  dined  at  tables-d'hote,  he 
formed  rash  intimacies  with  strangers,  he  courted 
society  and  found  naught  but  opportunities  to  spend 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  57 

money.  As  he  walked  along  the  boulevards,  his 
mental  suffering  was  so  great  that  the  sight  of  a 
mother  accompanied  by  a  marriageable  daughter 
caused  him  a  sensation  as  painful  as  that  which  he 
experienced  at  the  sight  of  a  young  man  riding  to  the 
Bois,  of  a  parvenu  in  his  elegant  equipage,  or  a  dec- 
orated government  clerk.  His  consciousness  of  his 
own  impotence  told  him  that  he  could  not  aspire  to 
the  most  honorable  of  subordinate  positions,  much 
less  to  the  most  agreeable  of  destinies;  and  he  had 
sufficient  heart  to  be  wounded  by  it,  sufficient  wit  to 
compose  mental  lamentations  overflowing  with  gall 
and  bitterness. 

Unable  to  contend  against  fate,  having  a  con- 
sciousness of  superior  faculties,  but  lacking  the  will 
power  to  set  them  at  work,  feeling  that  he  was 
incomplete,  that  he  had  not  the  strength  to  under- 
take anything  great  or  the  power  to  overcome  the 
tastes  he  had  retained  from  his  former  life,  his 
education  or  his  reckless  habits,  he  was  consumed 
by  three  diseases,  any  one  of  which  was  enough  to 
make  a  young  man  devoid  of  religious  faith  disgusted 
with  life.  So  Godefroid's  face  had  taken  on  the 
expression  which  we  meet  with  so  often  that  it  has 
become  the  Parisian  type:  in  it  one  could  read 
defeated  or  dead  ambitions,  mental  suffering,  hatred 
lulled  to  sleep  in  the  indolence  of  a  life  sufficiently 
engrossed  by  the  daily,  external  spectacle  of  Paris; 
a  lack  of  appetite  that  seeks  stimulants,  lamentation 
without  talent,  the  grimace  of  strength,  the  venom 
of  prior  mistakes,  which  manifests  itself  in  a  tendency 


58  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

to  smile  at  all  raillery,  to  spit  upon  everyone  who 
succeeds,  to  speak  slightingly  of  the  most  essential 
powers,  to  rejoice  at  their  embarrassment,  and  to 
hold  aloof  from  all  social  forms.  That  Parisian 
disease  is  to  the  active,  permanent  conspiracy  of 
energetic  men  what  the  sapwood  is  to  the  sap  of  the 
tree:  it  preserves  it,  supports  it  and  conceals  it. 

Disgusted  with  himself,  Godefroid  determined  one 
morning,  upon  meeting  one  of  his  comrades,  who  had 
been  the  tortoise  of  the  fable  as  he  had  been  the 
hare,  to  give  some  meaning  to  his  life.  In  the 
course  of  one  of  those  conversations  which  naturally 
follow  a  meeting  between  two  old  college  friends, 
in  the  sunlight,  on  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  he  was 
amazed  to  find  that  he,  although  endowed,  in 
appearance  at  least,  with  less  talent  and  less 
resources  than  himself,  had  succeeded  by  following 
out  in  the  morning  the  ideas  he  had  conceived  the 
day  before.  The  sick  man  thereupon  determined  to 
copy  that  simple  plan  of  action. 

"Social  life  is  like  the  soil,"  his  schoolmate  had 
said  to  him,  "it  yields  its  fruits  in  proportion  to  our 
efforts." 

Godefroid  had  already  run  in  debt.  As  a  first 
punishment,  as  a  first  task,  he  condemned  himself 
to  live  in  retirement,  paying  his  debts  out  of  his 
income.  For  a  man  accustomed  to  spend  six 
thousand  francs  when  he  had  only  five,  it  was  no 
small  undertaking  to  keep  his  expenditures  down  to 
two  thousand.  Every  morning  he  read  Les  Petites 
Affiches,  hoping  to  find  in  its  columns  some  place  of 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  59 

refuge  where  his  expenses  would  be  fixed,  where  he 
could  enjoy  the  solitude  essential  for  a  man  who 
wishes  to  reflect,  to  search  his  conscience,  to 
determine  his  proper  calling.  The  manners  that 
obtained  in  the  middle-class  boarding  houses  of  the 
Latin  quarter  offended  his  sense  of  delicacy,  the 
private  hospitals  seemed  to  him  unhealthy  places, 
and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  relapsing  into  the  fatal 
irresolution  characteristic  of  people  who  have  no  will, 
when  the  following  advertisement  caught  his  eye: 

"  Small  apartment  at  seventy  francs  per  month,  suitable  for 
a  clergyman.  A  tenant  of  quiet  habits  is  desired;  good  board 
will  be  provided  and  the  apartment  furnished  at  moderate 
expense  if  satisfactory  arrangements  can  be  made. 

"Apply  to  Monsieur  Millet,  grocer,  Rue  Chanoinesse,  near 
Notre-Dame,  who  will  furnish  all  necessary  information." 

Seduced  by  the  kindliness  concealed  beneath  that 
wording  and  by  the  bourgeois  perfume  that  exhaled 
from  it,  Godefroid  had  called  upon  the  grocer  about 
four  o'clock,  and  had  learned  from  him  that  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie  was  dining  at  that  moment  and  that 
she  received  no  visitors  during  her  repast.  The 
lady  could  be  seen  in  the  evening  after  seven 
o'clock  or  in  the  morning  between  ten  o'clock  and 
noon.  While  he  was  speaking,  Monsieur  Millet  ex- 
amined Godefroid  and  caused  him  to  undergo,  as 
the  magistrates  say,  a  first  instalment  of  interro- 
gation. "Was  monsieur  a  bachelor?  Madame 
desired  a  tenant  of  regular  habits;  the  door  was 
locked  at  eleven  o'clock  at  the  latest." 


60  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"Monsieur  seems  to  me  to  be  of  about  the  age  to 
suit  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,"  he  said  in  conclusion. 

"How  old  do  you  take  me  to  be?"  queried  Gode- 
froid. 

"Something  like  forty,"  replied  the  grocer. 

That  artless  reply  cast  Godefroid  into  the  depths 
of  misanthropy  and  melancholy;  he  dined  on  Quai 
de  la  Tournelle  and  returned  to  gaze  at  N6tre-Dame 
just  as  the  flames  of  the  setting  sun  streamed 
athwart  the  innumerable  buttresses  of  the  apse. 
The  quay  was  in  shadow  while  the  towers  were 
still  aglow  with  light,  and  the  contrast  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  Godefroid,  whose  mind  was  torn  by 
all  the  bitter  thoughts  that  the  grocer's  ingenuous- 
ness had  revived. 

Thus  the  young  man  was  wavering  between  the 
counsels  of  despair  and  the  moving  voice  of  the 
religious  harmonies  with  which  the  cathedral  bell 
filled  the  air,  when  amid  the  shadows  and  the 
silence  he  heard  the  remark  made  by  the  priest. 
Although,  like  most  of  the  young  men  of  his  time, 
he  was  far  from  religious,  his  sensibilities  were 
touched,  and  he  returned  to  Rue  Chanoinesse 
whither  he  had  already  determined  not  to  go. 

The  priest  and  Godefroid  were  equally  surprised 
when  they  walked  together  along  Rue  Massillon, 
which  lies  opposite  the  small  northern  doorway  of 
the  cathedral,  and  turned  together  into  Rue  Cha- 
noinesse at  about  the  point  where  that  street  ends 
and  Rue  des  Marmousets  begins,  near  Rue  de  la 
Colombe.  When  Godefroid  halted  under  the  arched 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  6l 

gateway  of  the  house  where  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
lived,  the  priest  turned  toward  him,  scrutinizing 
him  by  the  light  of  a  street  lantern,  which  will 
doubtless  be  one  of  the  last  to  disappear  in  the 
heart  of  old  Paris. 

"Have  you  come  to  see  Madame  de  la  Chanterie, 
monsieur?"  the  priest  inquired. 

"Yes,"  replied  Godefroid.  "The  words  that  I 
have  just  heard  you  say  to  that  mechanic  were 
sufficient  proof  to  me  that  this  house  must  be  a 
healthy  place  for  the  mind,  if  you  live  here." 

"So  you  were  a  witness  of  my  defeat?"  said  the 
priest,  as  he  raised  the  knocker;  "for  I  did  not 
succeed." 

"I  should  say  that  the  mechanic  was  the  one  who 
did  not  succeed,  for  he  was  asking  you  for  money 
with  great  earnestness." 

"Alas!"  replied  the  priest,  "one  of  the  greatest 
disadvantages  of  revolutions  in  France  is  that  each 
one  of  them  is  a  new  premium  offered  to  the 
ambition  of  the  lower  classes.  To  better  his  condi- 
tion, to  make  a  fortune,  which  is  looked  upon  to-day 
as  the  only  social  guaranty,  that  same  mechanic 
has  been  drawn  into  monstrous  schemes  which,  if 
they  should  not  succeed,  are  likely  to  require  the 
speculator  to  settle  with  human  justice.  That  is 
what  an  obliging  spirit  sometimes  leads  to." 

The  concierge  opened  a  heavy  gate  and  the  priest 
said  to  Godefroid: 

"It  may  be  that  monsieur  has  come  to  look  at  the 
small  suite?" 


62  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

They  thereupon  crossed  a  courtyard  of  consider- 
able size,  at  whose  farther  end  arose  the  black  mass 
of  a  tall  house  flanked  by  a  square  tower  higher 
than  the  roof  and  of  great  antiquity.  Everyone  who 
knows  the  history  of  Paris  is  aware  that  the  ground 
in  front  of  and  around  the  cathedral  has  been  so 
raised  that  there  is  no  trace  of  the  twelve  steps 
which  formerly  led  to  it.  To-day  the  base  of  the 
pillars  of  the  porch  is  on  a  level  with  the  street. 
Thus  the  original  ground  floor  of  the  house  in 
question  must  correspond  with  the  present  cellar. 
A  flight  of  two  or  three  steps  led  to  the  door  of  the 
tower,  in  which  there  was  a  venerable  spiral  stair- 
case winding  about  an  axis  carved  to  represent  a 
vine.  That  style,  reminiscent  of  the  staircases 
built  by  King  Louis  XII.  at  the  Chateau  of  Blois, 
dates  back  to  the  fourteenth  century.  Godefroid, 
whose  eye  was  struck  by  a  thousand  indications  of 
antiquity,  could  not  refrain  from  saying  to  the  priest, 
with  a  smile: 

"Yonder  tower  wasn't  built  yesterday!" 

"It  is  said  to  have  resisted  the  onslaught  of  the 
Normans,  and  to  have  formed  a  part  of  one  of  the 
first  palaces  of  the  kings  of  Paris;  but,  according  to 
the  traditions,  it  seems  more  certain  that  it  was  the 
residence  of  the  famous  Canon  Fulbert,  the  uncle 
of  Heloise." 

As  he  spoke,  the  priest  opened  the  door  of  the 
apartment  which  seemed  from  the  street  to  be  the 
ground  floor,  but  which,  on  the  second  courtyard — 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  63 

for  there  was  a  small  inner  courtyard — as  well  as  on 
the  first,  was  on  the  second  floor. 

In  the  first  room  a  servant  sat  working  by  the 
light  of  a  small  lamp;  on  her  head  was  a  linen  cap 
with  no  other  ornament  than  goffered  frills;  she 
stuck  one  of  her  needles  in  her  hair  and  held  her 
knitting  in  her  hand  as  she  rose  to  open  the  door  of 
a  lighted  salon  looking  on  the  inner  courtyard.  The 
woman's  costume  recalled  that  of  the  gray  sisters. 

."I  bring  you  a  lodger,  madame,"  said  the  priest, 
ushering  Godefroid  into  the  salon,  where  he  saw 
three  persons  sitting  in  easy-chairs  around  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie. 

The  three  persons  rose  and  the  mistress  of  the 
house  did  likewise;  then,  when  the  priest  had  moved 
a  chair  forward  for  Godefroid,  when  the  future 
lodger  had  taken  his  seat,  at  a  wave  of  the  hand 
from  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  accompanied  by  the 
words:  "Be  seated,  monsieur,"  the  Parisian  fancied 
himself  at  an  immense  distance  from  Paris,  in  Lower 
Bretagne  or  in  the  heart  of  Canada. 

Silence  may  be  said  to  have  degrees.  Perhaps 
Godefroid,  already  impressed  by  the  silence  of  Rues 
Massillon  and  Chanoinesse,  through  which  two 
carriages  do  not  pass  in  a  month,  and  by  the  silence 
of  the  courtyard  and  the  tower,  fancied  himself  at 
the  very  heart  of  silence,  so  to  speak,  in  that  salon 
surrounded  by  so  many  old  streets,  old  courtyards 
and  old  walls. 

That  part  of  the  island  known  as  the  Cloister  has 
retained  the  characteristics  common  to  all  cloisters; 


64  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

it  seems  damp  and  cold,  and  the  most  profound 
monastic  silence  reigns  there  in  the  busiest  hours  of 
the  day.  It  is  to  be  noticed,  furthermore,  that  all 
that  portion  of  the  old  Cite  which  is  crowded 
between  the  walls  of  Notre-Dame  and  the  river  is 
to  the  north  of  the  cathedral  and  in  its  shadow. 
The  easterly  winds  rush  through  with  nothing  to 
break  their  force,  and  the  fogs  of  the  Seine  are 
detained  there,  as  it  were,  by  the  black  walls  of  the 
old  metropolitan  church.  And  so  no  one  will  be 
surprised  at  Godefroid's  feeling  when,  in  that 
venerable  structure,  he  entered  the  presence  of  four 
persons  as  silent  and  solemn  as  their  surroundings. 
He  did  not  look  about,  being  intensely  curious 
concerning  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  whose  name 
had  already  aroused  his  interest.  That  lady  was 
evidently  a  personage  of  another  age,  not  to  say 
of  another  world.  She  had  a  sweet  face,  the  tones 
of  the  complexion  being  at  once  soft  and  cold,  an 
aquiline  nose,  a  double  chin,  brown  eyes  and  a 
noble  brow:  the  whole  framed  by  curls  of  silvery 
hair.  Her  dress  could  be  called  by  no  other  name 
than  the  old-fashioned  one  of  fourreau,  it  fitted  so 
closely,  after  the  style  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  material,  which  was  a  light-brown  silk  with 
numerous  narrow  green  stripes,  seemed  to  be  of 
the  same  period.  The  waist,  which  was  of  one 
piece  with  the  skirt,  was  concealed  beneath  a 
paduasoy  mantle  with  a  border  of  black  lace, 
fastened  over  the  breast  with  a  miniature  pin.  Her 
feet,  encased  in  black  velvet  slippers,  rested  on  a 


THE   BROTHERHOOD   OF  CONSOLATION 


"/  bring  to  you  a  lodger,  madame,"  said  the 
priest,  ushering  Godefroid  into  the  salon,  where  he 
saw  three  persons  sitting  in  easy-chairs  around 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie. 

The  three  persons  rose — 


X  nyfr  Lie  Oucur 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  65 

small  cushion.  Like  her  servant,  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  was  knitting  stockings,  and  had  a  needle 
stuck  in  her  curls  under  her  lace  cap. 

"Have  you  seen  Monsieur  Millet?"  she  asked 
Godefroid  in  the  nasal  voice  peculiar  to  the  dowagers 
of  Faubourg  Saint-Germain,  as  if  to  give  him  an 
opening,  when  she  saw  that  he  was  somewhat 
abashed. 

"Yes,  madame." 

"I  am  afraid  that  the  apartment  will  hardly  suit 
you,"  she  continued,  as  she  observed  the  fashion- 
able cut  and  the  newness  of  her  would-be  lodger's 
attire. 

Godefroid  had  patent  leather  boots,  yellow  gloves, 
handsome  shirt-studs,  and  a  dainty  watch-chain 
passed  through  one  of  the  buttonholes  of  his  black 
silk  waistcoat  with  blue  flowers.  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  took  a  small  silver  whistle  from  one  of 
her  pockets  and  whistled.  The  servant  entered. 

"Manon,  my  girl,  show  monsieur  the  rooms. — 
Will  you  accompany  monsieur,  my  dear  vicar?" 
she  added,  addressing  the  priest. — "If  the  lodgings 
should  happen  to  suit  you,"  she  said,  rising  again 
and  turning  to  Godefroid,  "we  will  discuss  terms." 

Godefroid  bowed  and  left  the  room.  He  heard 
the  jingling  of  the  keys  which  Manon  took  from  a 
drawer,  and  he  saw  her  light  the  candle  in  a  great 
yellow  copper  candlestick.  She  went  before,  with- 
out speaking  a  word.  When  Godefroid  found  him- 
self on  the  stairs,  ascending  to  the  upper  floors,  he 
doubted  whether  he  was  really  alive,  he  seemed  to 
5 


66  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

be  in  a  waking  dream,  he  had  before  him  the 
fanciful  world  of  the  novels  he  had  read  in  his  hours 
of  leisure.  Any  Parisian  who  had,  as  he  had, 
recently  left  the  modern  quarters  of  the  city,  the 
luxurious  houses  and  appointments,  the  brilliantly 
illuminated  restaurants  and  theatres,  the  bustle  and 
animation  of  the  heart  of  Paris,  would  have  shared 
his  opinion.  The  candlestick  held  by  the  servant 
dimly  lighted  the  old  winding  staircases,  where  the 
spiders  had  spun  their  webs,  now  covered  with 
dust.  Manon  wore  a  petticoat  with  broad  pleats, 
made  of  coarse  sackcloth;  her  waist  was  cut  square 
behind  as  well  as  in  front  and  her  dress  was  all 
made  in  one  piece.  When  they  reached  the  third 
floor,  which  was  supposed  to  be  the  second,  Manon 
stopped,  turned  the  key  in  an  old-fashioned  lock 
and  opened  a  door  roughly  painted  in  imitation  of 
mahogany. 

"This  is  it,"  she  said,  entering  the  room  first. 

Had  a  miser,  a  painter  who  died  in  want,  a  cynic 
to  whom  the  world  was  of  no  account,  or  a  monk 
who  lived  apart  from  the  world,  occupied  those 
apartments?  One  might  well  have  asked  himself 
that  quadruple  question  upon  inhaling  the  odor  of 
destitution,  upon  observing  the  grease-spots  on  the 
smoke-begrimed  papers,  the  blackened  ceilings,  the 
small  window-panes  incrusted  with  dirt,  the  stained 
bricks  of  the  floor,  and  the  wainscoting  coated  with 
a  sort  of  sticky  varnish.  A  cold,  damp  blast  blew 
down  the  fireplaces  of  carved  and  painted  stone, 
over  which  were  mirrors  set  between  piers  of  the 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  67 

seventeenth  century.  The  apartment  was  on  two 
sides  of  a  square,  like  the  house  itself,  surrounding 
the  inner  courtyard,  which  Godefroid  could  not  see 
on  account  of  the  darkness. 

"Who  last  lived  here?"  Godefroid  asked  the 
priest. 

"An  ex-councilor  of  Parliament,  one  Monsieur  de 
Boisfrelon,  a  great-uncle  of  Madame.  The  old  man, 
who  had  been  in  his  dotage  ever  since  the  Revolu- 
tion, died  in  1832  at  the  age  of  ninety-six,  and 
Madame  could  not  make  up  her  mind  to  put  a 
stranger  in  here  at  once;  but  she  cannot  afford  to 
be  without  the  rent  any  longer." 

"Oh!  Madame  will  have  the  apartment  put  in 
order  and  furnished  to  suit  monsieur,"  interposed 
Manon. 

"That  will  depend  on  the  arrangements  you  may 
make  with  her,"  said  the  priest.  "You  will  find  a 
fine  parlor,  a  large  bedroom  and  a  cabinet,  and  the 
two  small  rooms  at  right  angles  on  the  courtyard 
will  make  an  excellent  place  to  work.  My  apart- 
ment below  and  the  one  above  are  arranged  in  the 
same  way." 

"Yes,"  said  Manon,  "Monsieur  Alain's  apartment 
is  just  like  yours,  but  he  has  a  view  of  the  tower." 

"I  think  that  I  ought  to  see  the  rooms  and  the 
house  by  daylight,"  said  Godefroid  timidly. 

"Very  likely,"  said  Manon. 

The  priest  and  Godefroid  went  downstairs, 
leaving  the  servant  to  lock  the  doors,  after  which 
she  overtook  them  and  lighted  them.  When  they 


68  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

returned  to  the  salon,  Godefroid,  having  overcome 
his  timidity,  was  able  to  examine  the  persons  and 
things  there  assembled. 

The  windows  of  the  salon  were  hung  with 
curtains  of  old  red  silk  with  lambrequins,  caught 
back  by  silk  cords.  The  red  tiles  were  visible 
around  the  edges  of  a  rug  of  antique  tapestry  too 
small  to  cover  the  floor.  The  wainscoting  was 
painted  gray.  The  ceiling,  separated  into  two 
parts  by  a  huge  beam,  one  end  of  which  was  set  in 
the  chimney,  seemed  like  a  tardy  concession  to 
fashion.  The  easy-chairs,  of  wood  painted  white, 
were  upholstered  in  tapestry.  A  cheap  clock, 
flanked  by  two  candlesticks  of  gilded  copper, 
adorned  the  mantelpiece.  At  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie's  side  was  an  old-fashioned  claw-footed  table, 
upon  which  were  her  skeins  of  yarn  in  a  wicker 
basket.  The  scene  was  lighted  by  a  hydrostatic 
lamp. 

The  three  men,  who  were  sitting  in  their  chairs  as 
rigid  and  motionless  and  silent  as  Buddhist  priests, 
had  evidently,  as  well  as  Madame  de  la  Chanterie, 
ceased  their  conversation  when  they  heard  the 
stranger  returning.  All  three  of  them  had  cold, 
discreet  faces,  in  harmony  with  the  salon,  the  house 
and  the  quarter.  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  admitted 
the  reasonableness  of  Godefroid's  conclusions  and 
said  that  she  would  do  nothing  further  until  she 
should  learn  the  intentions  of  her  prospective  tenant 
— or,  to  speak  more  accurately,  her  boarder.  If  the 
tenant  could  become  reconciled  to  the  customs  of  the 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  69 

house,  he  might  become  her  boarder,  but  those 
customs  were  so  different  from  those  of  Paris!  Life 
on  Rue  Chanoinesse  was  like  life  in  the  provinces: 
one  must  be  at  home  at  ten  o'clock,  as  a  general 
rule;  they  detested  noise;  neither  women  nor 
children  were  wanted,  so  that  the  deep-rooted 
customs  of  the  house  might  not  be  disturbed  in  any 
way.  Only  a  man  of  the  church  could  adjust  him- 
self to  that  order  of  things.  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
especially  desired  someone  who  lived  modestly  and 
was  not  exacting;  she  could  furnish  the  apartment 
only  with  what  was  strictly  necessary.  Monsieur 
Alain — she  indicated  one  of  the  gentlemen  present — 
was  satisfied,  and  she  would  treat  her  new  lodger  as 
she  treated  the  old  ones. 

"I  do  not  imagine,"  said  the  priest,  "that  mon- 
sieur is  very  much  inclined  to  enter  our  convent." 

"Indeed!  why  not?"  said  Monsieur  Alain;  "we 
are  very  comfortable  here,  and  we  get  along  very 
well  together." 

"Madame,"  said  Godefroid  rising,  "I  shall  have 
the  honor  to  see  you  again  to-morrow." 

Although  he  was  a  young  man,  the  four  old  men 
and  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  rose,  and  the  vicar 
escorted  him  as  far  as  the  stoop.  The  whistle  blew. 
At  that  signal  the  concierge  appeared,  armed  with  a 
lantern,  escorted  Godefroid  to  the  street,  and  .closed 
and  locked  the  huge  yellow  gate,  as  heavy  as  the 
door  of  a  prison  and  decorated  with  arabesques 
of  iron-work  dating  back  to  a  period  difficult  to 
determine. 


When  Godefroid  had  taken  his  seat  in  a  cab  and 
was  being  driven  toward  the  warm,  living,  brilliantly 
lighted  regions  of  Paris,  all  that  he  had  just  seen 
seemed  to  him  like  a  dream,  and  the  thoughts  he  had 
had  as  he  walked  along  Boulevard  des  Italiens,  were 
already  a  dim  memory. 

"Shall  I  find  those  people  there  to-morrow?"  he 
wondered.. 

The  next  day,  when  he  rose,  surrounded  by  the 
splendors  of  modern  luxury  and  the  appliances  of 
comfort  as  the  English  understand  it,  Godefroid 
recalled  all  the  details  of  his  visit  to  the  Cloister  of 
Notre-Dame,  and  realized  the  meaning  of  the  things 
he  had  seen.  The  three  unknown  men,  whose 
dress,  whose  demeanor  and  whose  silence  were  still 
vividly  present  to  his  mind,  must  be  boarders,  as  well 
as  the  priest.  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  solemn 
manner  seemed  to  him  to  be  due  to  the  secret 
dignity  with  which  she  endured  great  misfortunes. 
But,  despite  the  explanations  he  offered  himself, 
Godefroid  could  not  avoid  the  feeling  that  there  was 
something  mysterious  in  those  discreet  faces.  He 
selected  at  a  glance  such  of  his  furniture  as  could  be 
retained,  such  as  was  indispensable  to  him;  but 
when  he  transported  it  mentally  to  the  shabby 
lodgings  on  Rue  Chanoinesse,  he  began  to  laugh  at 
the  contrast  it  would  offer  to  its  surroundings,  and 


72  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

he  determined  to  sell  everything,  reduce  his  indebt- 
edness with  the  proceeds  and  let  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  furnish  the  rooms  for  him.  What  he  must 
have  was  an  entirely  new  life,  and  any  objects 
likely  to  remind  him  of  his  former  position  would  be 
unpleasant  to  look  at.  In  his  longing  for  the  trans- 
formation,— for  his  was  one  of  the  characters  that 
go  a  long  distance  in  a  new  direction  at  the  first 
stride,  instead  of  feeling  their  way  step  by  step  as 
others  do, — he  was  seized  by  an  idea  as  he  was 
breakfasting:  he  determined  to  turn  his  fortune  into 
cash,  pay  his  debts,  and  invest  the  balance  of  his 
capital  with  the  banking  house  with  which  his  father 
had  done  business. 

That  house  was  the  house  of  Mongenod  et  Cie., 
established  in  Paris  in  1816  or  1817,  whose  reputa- 
tion for  honorable  dealing  had  never  been  assailed 
amid  the  commercial  depravity  with  which  certain 
Paris  houses  were  more  or  less  tainted.  Thus, 
despite  their  enormous  wealth,  the  houses  of 
Nucingen,  Du  Tillet,  Keller  Freres  and  Palma  et 
Cie.  suffered  a  loss  of  reputation  which,  to  be  sure, 
was  not  talked  about,  or,  if  you  please,  was  talked 
about  only  in  whispers.  Shocking  methods  had 
produced  such  satisfactory  results,  political  success 
and  allegiance  to  the  dynasty  covered  a  base 
extraction  so  completely,  that  no  one,  in  1834,  paid 
any  heed  to  the  mud  that  surrounded  the  roots  of 
those  majestic  trees,  the  props  of  the  State.  Never- 
theless, there  was  not  a  single  one  of  those  bankers 
to  whom  a  word  in  praise  of  the  house  of  Mongenod 


MADAME   DE  LA  CHANTERIE  73 

was  not  a  deadly  wound.  The  house  of  Mongenod, 
following  the  example  of  the  great  English  bankers, 
made  no  outward  show;  profound  silence  reigned  in 
their  counting-rooms;  they  were  content  to  carry 
on  the  banking  business  with  a  discretion,  good 
judgment  and  uprightness  that  enabled  them  to 
extend  their  operations  with  security  from  one  end 
of  the  world  to  the  other. 

The  present  head  of  the  firm,  Frederic  Mongenod, 
is  the  Vicomte  de  Fontaine's  brother-in-law.  Thus 
that  numerous  family  is  connected  through  Baron 
de  Fontaine  with  Monsieur  Grossete'te,  the  receiver- 
general,  brother  of  the  Grossete'tes  of  Grossete'te  et 
Cie.  of  Limoges;  with  the  Vandenesses  and  with 
Planat  de  Baudry,  another  receiver-general.  That 
relationship,  after  procuring  the  late  Mongenod 
Senior  great  advantages  in  the  financial  operations 
of  the  Restoration,  had  procured  for  him  the  confi- 
dence of  the  first  families  of  the  old  nobility,  whose 
capital  and  vast  savings  were  entrusted  to  his  bank. 
Far  from  aspiring  to  the  peerage,  like  the  Kellers, 
the  Nucingens  and  the  Du  Tillets,  the  Mongenods 
held  aloof  from  politics  and  knew  no  more  of  it  than 
it  was  essential  for  the  bank  to  know. 

The  house  of  Mongenod  had  its  quarters  in  a 
superb  mansion,  between  courtyard  and  garden,  on 
Rue  de  la  Victoire,  where  Madame  Mongenod  and 
her  two  sons,  the  three  members  of  the  firm,  lived. 
Madame  la  Vicomtesse  de  Fontaine  had  been  bought 
out  by  them  at  the  time  of  the  elder  Mongenod's 
death,  in  1827.  Frederic  Mongenod,  a  handsome 


74  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

man  of  about  thirty-five,  cold  and  taciturn  in 
manner,  reserved  as  a  Genevan  and  neat  as  an 
Englishman,  had  acquired  under  his  father's  eye  all 
the  qualities  essential  to  his  difficult  profession.  He 
had  received  a  better  education  than  the  vast 
majority  of  bankers,  his  studies  having  covered  all 
the  subjects  embraced  in  the  polytechnic  curriculum; 
but,  like  many  bankers,  he  had  a  predilection,  a 
fad  outside  of  his  business — he  was  very  fond  of 
mechanics  and  chemistry.  His  brother,  who  was 
ten  years  younger  than  he,  occupied  much  the  same 
position  in  his  brother's  office  as  that  occupied  by  a 
head  clerk  in  the  office  of  a  notary  or  a  solicitor; 
Frederic  was  training  him,  as  he  had  himself  been 
trained  by  his  father,  in  all  the  branches  of  knowl- 
edge essential  for  the  true  banker,  who  is  to  money 
what  the  writer  is  to  ideas:  both  of  them  should 
know  everything. 

Upon  giving  his  family  name,  Godefroid  discovered 
in  what  esteem  his  father  was  held,  for  he  was 
taken  directly  through  the  offices  to  Mongenod's 
private  room.  As  the  doors  to  that  room  were  of 
glass,  Godefroid,  notwithstanding  his  attempts  not 
to  listen,  heard  the  conversation  that  was  in  progress 
within. 

"Madame,  your  account  shows  sixteen  hundred 
thousand  francs  to  your  credit  and  the  same  to  your 
debit,"  Mongenod  the  younger  was  saying;  "I  do 
not  know  what  my  brother's  intentions  are,  and 
only  he  can  say  whether  an  advance  of  a  hun- 
dred thousand  francs  is  possible.  You  have  been 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  75 

imprudent.  Nobody  ought  to  risk  sixteen  hundred 
thousand  francs  in  business." 

"Too  loud,  Louis,"  said  a  woman's  voice;  "your 
brother  has  told  you  always  to  speak  in  undertones. 
There  may  be  somebody  in  the  small  salon." 

At  that  moment  Frederic  Mongenod  opened  the 
door  between  his  apartments  and  the  private  office; 
he  spied  Godefroid  and  walked  across  the  office, 
bowing  respectfully  to  the  person  with  whom  his 
brother  was  talking. 

"To  whom  have  I  the  honor  of  speaking?"  he  said 
to  Godefroid,  allowing  him  to  enter  the  office  first. 

As  soon  as  Godefroid  gave  his  name,  Frederic 
offered  him  a  seat,  and  while  he  was  opening  his 
desk,  Louis  Mongenod  and  a  lady,  who  was  no  other 
than  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  rose  and  walked 
toward  Frederic.  All  three  stood  in  a  window-recess 
and  talked  in  undertones  with  Madame  Mongenod, 
to  whom  all  business  matters  were  submitted.  For 
thirty  years  past  she  had  given  her  husband,  and 
her  sons  after  him,  proofs  of  a  capacity  for  business, 
which  made  her  an  active  partner,  for  she  was 
authorized  to  sign  the  firm  name.  Godefroid  saw 
boxes  labelled:  Affaires  de  la  Chanterie,  and  num- 
bered from  i  to  7.  When  the  conference  was 
brought  to  an  end  by  the  banker  saying  to  his 
brother:  "Very  well,  go  down  to  the  cashier," 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  turned,  saw  Godefroid, 
restrained  a  gesture  of  surprise,  and  questioned 
Mongenod  in  an  undertone;  he  replied  briefly  in  the 
same  tone. 


76  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

Madame  de  la  Chanterie  wore  small  black  woolen 
shoes,  gray  silk  stockings,  and  the  same  dress  she 
had  worn  the  night  before;  her  figure  was  enveloped 
in  the  Venetian  baute,  a  sort  of  cloak  just  coming 
into  fashion  once  more.  On  her  head  was  a  green 
silk  hood,  of  the  style  called  ct  la  bonne  femme,  lined 
with  white  silk.  Her  face  was  surrounded  by 
billows  of  lace.  She  was  very  erect  and  her  bear- 
ing, if  it  did  not  indicate  high  birth,  indicated 
familiarity  with  the  ways  of  aristocratic  life.  Except 
for  her  excessive  affability,  she  might  have  seemed 
haughty.  At  all  events  she  was  imposing. 

"It  was  not  so  much  chance  as  a  dispensation  of 
Providence  that  brought  us  both  here  this  morning, 
monsieur,"  she  said  to  Godefroid,  "for  I  had  almost 
decided  to  refuse  a  lodger  whose  habits  seemed  to 
me  likely  to  be  at  variance  with  those  of  my  house- 
hold; but  Monsieur  Mongenod  has  given  me  certain 
information  concerning  your  family,  which — " 

"Why,  madame — monsieur,"  said  Godefroid, 
addressing  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  and  the  banker 
at  the  same  time,  "I  have  no  family  now,  and  I 
have  come  here  to  ask  my  father's  former  banker 
for  advice  as  to  the, employment  of  my  little  fortune 
in  some  new  way." 

Godefroid  speedily  and  in  a  few  words  told  his 
story,  and  expressed  his  desire  to  change  his  mode 
of  life. 

"In  the  old  days,"  he  said,  "a  man  in  my  position 
would  have  turned  monk;  but  we  have  no  religious 
orders  now." 


MADAME   DE  LA  CHANTERIE  77 

"Go  to  madame's  house,  if  madame  is  willing  to 
take  you  for  a  lodger,"  said  Frederic  Mongenod, 
after  exchanging  a  glance  with  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  "and  don't  sell  your  government  stocks, 
but  let  me  have  them.  Give  me  the  exact  figure 
of  your  indebtedness,  I  will  arrange  periods  of 
payment  with  your  creditors,  and  you  will  have 
about  a  hundred  and  fifty  francs  a  month  for  your- 
self. It  will  take  two  years  to  clear  you.  During 
those  two  years,  you  will  have,  where  you  will  be, 
plenty  of  leisure  to  think  of  a  career,  especially 
among  the  people  with  whom  you  are  to  live,  whose 
advice  is  sure  to  be  good." 

Louis  Mongenod  returned  with  a  hundred  notes  of 
a  thousand  francs,  which  he  handed  to  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie.  Godefroid  offered  his  future  landlady 
his  hand  and  escorted  her  to  her  cab. 

"We  shall  meet  again  soon,  monsieur,"  she  said 
in  a  friendly  tone. 

"At  what  hour  will  you  be  at  home,  madame?" 
said  Godefroid. 

"In  two  hours." 

"I  have  time  to  sell  my  furniture,"  he  said,  as  he 
took  leave  of  her. 

During  the  short  time  that  he  had  held  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie's  arm  in  his  and  they  had  walked 
along  together,  Godefroid  had  been  unable  to  take 
his  eyes  from  the  halo  that  Louis  Mongenod's  words: 
"Your  account  foots  up  sixteen  hundred  thousand 
francs,"  had  placed  about  the  head  of  that  woman, 
whose  life  was  passed  in  the  depths  of  the  Cloister 


78  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

of  N&tre-Dame.  The  thought:  "She  must  be 
rich!"  changed  his  point  of  view  entirely. 

"How  old  can  she  be?"  he  asked  himself. 

And  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  possible  romance  in 
a  sojourn  on  Rue  Chanoinesse. 

"She  has  a  noble  air!  Does  she  do  a  banking 
business?"  he  said  to  himself. 

In  our  day,  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  out  of  a 
thousand  young  men  in  Godefroid's  position  would 
have  thought  of  the  possibility  of  marrying  the 
woman. 

A  dealer  in  furniture,  who  was  something  of  an 
upholsterer,  but  whose  principal  business  was 
renting  furnished  apartments,  gave  Godefroid  about 
three  thousand  francs  for  all  that  he  wanted  to  sell, 
and  allowed  him  to  retain  it  the  few  days  required 
for  putting  in  order  the  unattractive  apartment  on 
Rue  Chanoinesse,  whither  the  mentally  diseased 
young  man  promptly  repaired.  He  sent  for  a  painter 
whose  address  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  gave  him, 
and  who  agreed,  for  a  modest  sum,  to  whiten  the 
ceilings,  clean  the  woodwork,  paint  all  the  wain- 
scoting to  imitate  Spa  wood,  and  stain  the  floor,  all 
within  the  week.  Godefroid  took  the  measure  of 
the  rooms  and  ordered  the  same  carpet  for  them  all, 
a  green  carpet  of  the  cheapest  sort.  He  desired 
uniformity  and  the  utmost  simplicity  in  his  cell. 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  approved  his  idea.  With 
Manon's  assistance  she  calculated  the  amount  of 
white  calico  necessary  for  curtains  at  the  windows 
and  for  bed-curtains  for  a  simple  iron  bed;  then  she 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  79 

agreed  to  purchase  and  make  them  at  a  price  so 
moderate  that  Godefroid  was  surprised.  With  the 
new  furniture  that  he  brought,  his  apartment  all 
restored  did  not  cost  him  more  than  six  hundred 
francs. 

"So  I  shall  be  able  to  carry  about  a  thousand  to 
Monsieur  Mongenod,"  he  said. 

"We  lead  a  Christian  life  here,"  said  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie,  "and  that,  you  know,  accords  but  ill 
with  many  superfluities,  and  I  think  that  you  still 
retain  too  many." 

As  she  gave  her  future  lodger  that  advice,  she 
glanced  at  a  diamond  that  sparkled  in  the  ring 
through  which  Godefroid's  blue  cravat  was  passed. 

"I  only  mention  it,"  she  continued,  "because  I 
see  that  you  intend  to  break  off  the  life  of  dissipation 
which  you  bewailed  to  Monsieur  Mongenod." 

Godefroid  gazed  at  Madame  de  la  Chanterie, 
enjoying  the  melody  of  her  bell-like  voice;  he 
scrutinized  that  absolutely  white  face,  worthy  of 
one  of  the  grave,  cold  Dutchwomen  whom  the 
brushes  of  the  Flemish  school  have  reproduced  so 
well,  and  in  whose  faces  wrinkles  are  impossible. 

"White  and  plump!"  he  said  to  himself  as  he 
took  his  leave;  "but  her  hair  is  very  white — " 

Like  all  weak  natures,  Godefroid  had  easily  made 
up  his  mind  to  begin  a  new  life,  thinking  that  every- 
thing would  run  smoothly,  and  he  was  in  great 
haste  to  go  to  Rue  Chanoinesse;  nevertheless  he 
had  an  attack  of  prudence,  of  suspicion,  if  you 
choose.  Two  days  before  he  removed  to  his  new 


80  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

quarters,  he  went  to  Monsieur  Mongenod  to  obtain 
some  information  as  to  the  household  he  was  about 
to  enter.  During  the  few  moments  that  he  had 
passed  in  his  future  lodgings  to  look  over  the  changes 
that  had  been  made  there,  he  had  noticed  several 
persons  going  in  and  out,  whose  appearance  and 
manner,  although  not  precisely  mysterious,  gave 
him  reason  to  think  that  some  of  the  members  of  the 
household  were  engaged  in  secret  professions  or 
occupations.  At  that  time  there  was  much  talk  of 
attempts  on  the  part  of  the  elder  branch  of  the 
Bourbons  to  regain  the  throne,  and  Godefroid  be- 
lieved that  some  conspiracy  was  on  foot.  When 
he  found  himself  in  the  banker's  private  office  and 
exposed  to  his  penetrating  glance  as  he  asked  the 
question,  he  was  ashamed  of  himself,  and  he  saw  a 
sardonic  smile  upon  Frederic  Mongenod's  lips. 

"Madame  la  Baronne  de  la  Chanterie,"  he  replied, 
"is  one  of  the  most  obscure  persons  in  Paris,  but  she 
is  one  of  the  most  honorable.  Have  you  any  reasons 
for  asking  me  for  information  concerning  her?" 

Godefroid  took  refuge  in  commonplaces:  he  was 
going  to  live  for  a  long  while  with  strangers,  and  he 
felt  that  he  ought  to  know  with  whom  he  was  form- 
ing relations,  etc.  But  the  banker's  smile  became 
more  and  more  satirical,  and  Godefroid,  whose  em- 
barrassment increased  in  the  same  degree,  had  the 
shame  of  the  performance  without  deriving  any 
benefit  from  it,  for  he  dared  not  ask  any  further 
questions  concerning  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  or 
her  lodgers. 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  8 1 

Two  days  later,  on  a  Monday  evening,  after 
dining  for  the  last  time  at  the  Cafe  Anglais  and 
sitting  through  the  first  two  plays  at  the  Varietes, 
he  arrived  about  ten  o'clock  at  Rue  Chanoinesse, 
where  he  was  shown  to  his  apartment  by  Manon. 

Solitude  has  charms  comparable  to  those  of 
savage  life,  which  no  European  ever  quitted  after  he 
had  once  had  a  taste  of  it.  This  may  seem  strange 
at  a  time  when  everyone  lives  so  wholly  for  the  sake 
of  his  fellows  that  everyone  meddles  with  every- 
one's business,  and  there  soon  will  be  no  such  thing 
as  private  life,  since  the  eyes  of  that  modern  Argus, 
the  newspaper,  are  progressing  so  rapidly  in  audacity 
and  greed;  nevertheless  the  proposition  is  supported 
by  the  authority  of  the  first  six  centuries  of  Chris- 
tianity, during  which  no  hermit  ever  returned  to 
society.  There  are  few  mental  wounds  that  soli- 
tude does  not  cure.  So  it  was  that  Godefroid,  at  the 
outset,  was  soothed  by  the  tranquillity  and  silence 
of  his  new  home,  precisely  as  a  tired  traveler  forgets 
his  fatigue  in  the  bath. 

On  the  day  following  his  installation  as  one  of 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  family,  he  meditated 
deeply  perforce,  finding  himself  separated  from 
everything,  even  from  Paris,  although  he  was  still 
in  the  shadow  of  the  cathedral.  There,  having  laid 
aside  all  social  vanities,  he  would  have  no  other 
witnesses  of  his  acts  than  his  own  conscience  and 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  lodgers.  He  had  left  the 
broad  highway  of  society  and  entered  upon  an 
unfamiliar  path;  but  whither  would  that  path  lead 
6 


82  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

him?  to  what  occupation  should  he  turn  his  atten- 
tion ? 

He  had  been  absorbed  in  such  reflections  for 
two  hours,  when  Manon,  the  only  servant  in  the 
establishment,  knocked  at  his  door  and  informed 
him  that  the  second  breakfast  was  served,  and  that 
they  were  waiting  for  him.  The  clock  was  striking 
twelve.  The  new  boarder  went  down  at  once, 
impelled  by  a  longing  to  form  an  opinion  of  the  five 
persons  with  whom  his  life  was  to  be  passed  thence- 
forth. As  he  entered  the  salon,  he  saw  all  the 
inmates  of  the  house  standing  about,  dressed  in  the 
same  clothes  that  they  wore  on  the  evening  that  he 
came  to  see  the  rooms. 

"Did  you  sleep  well?"  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
asked  him. 

"I  did  not  wake  until  ten,"  replied  Godefroid, 
bowing  to  the  four  boarders,  all  of  whom  solemnly 
returned  his  salutation. 

"We  waited  for  you,"  said  the  old  gentleman 
named  Alain,  with  a  smile. 

"Manon  mentioned  a  second  breakfast,"  said 
Godefroid;  "it  seems  that  I  have  already  broken  a 
rule,  unwittingly.  At  what  time  do  you  rise?" 

"We  do  not  rise  quite  so  early  as  the  monks  used 
to  do  in  the  old  days,"  replied  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie graciously,  "but  we  rise  with  the  workingman 
— at  six  o'clock  in  winter,  at  half-past  three  in  sum- 
mer. Our  hour  for  retiring  also  corresponds  with 
that  of  the  sun.  We  are  always  asleep  at  nine 
o'clock  in  winter  and  at  eleven  in  summer.  After 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  83 

saying  our  prayers,  we  all  take  a  little  milk,  which 
comes  from  our  farm,  except  Monsieur  1'Abbe  de 
Veze,  who  celebrates  early  mass,  at  six  o'clock  in 
summer  and  seven  in  winter,  at  Notre-Dame — a 
service  which  these  gentlemen,  as  well  as  your 
humble  servant,  attend  every  day." 

Madame  de  la  Chanterie  finished  this  explanation 
at  the  table,  at  which  her  five  guests  had  taken  their 
seats. 

The  dining-room,  painted  gray  throughout,  with 
wainscoting  of  a  pattern  in  the  style  of  the  age  of 
Louis  XIV.,  adjoined  the  species  of  anteroom  in  which 
Manon  sat,  and  seemed  to  be  parallel  with  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie's  bedroom,  which  doubtless  com- 
municated with  the  salon.  The  room  had  no  other 
ornament  than  an  old-fashioned  clock.  The  fur- 
niture consisted  of  six  chairs,  whose  backs,  oval 
in  shape,  were  upholstered  in  tapestry  evidently 
executed  by  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  own  hand; 
two  mahogany  sideboards  and  a  mahogany  table, 
on  which  Manon  laid  no  cloth  for  breakfast.  That 
repast,  monastic  in  its  frugality,  consisted  of  a  small 
turbot  with  a  white  sauce,  potatoes,  a  salad,  and 
four  plates  of  fruit — peaches,  grapes,  strawberries 
and  fresh  almonds;  in  the  way  of  hors-d'oeuvre, 
there  were  honey  in  the  comb,  as  it  is  served 
in  Switzerland,  butter  and  radishes,  cucum- 
bers and  sardines.  It  was  served  in  the  familiar 
ware  decorated  with  blue-bells  and  green  leaves, 
which  was  doubtless  a  great  rarity  under 
Louis  XVI.,  but  which  the  constantly  increasing 


84  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

demands  of  life  at  the  present  day  have  made  very 
common. 

"We  are  fasting,"  said  Monsieur  Alain.  "As  we 
go  to  mass  every  morning,  you  may  imagine  that 
we  comply  blindly  with  all  the  requirements  of  the 
Church,  even  the  most  severe." 

"And  you  will  begin  by  following  our  example," 
said  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  with  a  stealthy  glance 
at  Godefroid,  whom  she  had  placed  by  her  side. 

Of  the  four  boarders,  Godefroid  already  knew 
the  names  of  Abbe  de  Veze  and  Monsieur  Alain; 
but  he  had  still  to  learn  the  names  of  the  other  two. 
They  said  nothing,  but  ate  their  breakfast  with  the 
attention  that  men  of  the  cloth  seem  to  bestow  upon 
the  most  trivial  details  of  their  repasts. 

"Does  this  fine  fruit  also  come  from  your  farm, 
madame?"  inquired  Godefroid. 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  she  replied.  "We  have  our 
little  model  farm  just  as  the  government  has;  it  is 
our  country  house,  three  leagues  from  here,  on  the 
road  to  Italy,  near  Villeneuve-Saint-Georges." 

"It  is  a  piece  of  property  that  belongs  to  us  all  and 
is  to  go  to  the  last  survivor,"  said  Goodman  Alain. 

"Oh!  it's  no  great  affair,"  added  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  who  seemed  to  fear  that  Godefroid  might 
take  these  remarks  as  a  bait. 

"There  are,"  said  one  of  the  two  whom  Gode- 
froid did  not  know,  "thirty  acres  of  tillage  land,  six 
acres  of  meadow  and  a  vineyard  of  four  acres,  with 
our  house  in  the  centre  and  the  farmhouse  a  short 
distance  away." 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  85 

"Why,  such  a  piece  of  property  must  be  worth 
more  than  a  hundred  thousand  francs,  is  it  not?" 
observed  Godefroid. 

"Oh!  we  get  nothing  from  it  but  our  provisions," 
the  same  person  replied.  He  was  a  tall,  thin  man 
of  serious  mien.  At  first  sight  he  seemed  to  have 
served  in  the  army;  his  white  hair  said  plainly 
enough  that  he  had  passed  his  sixtieth  year,  and  his 
face  bore  signs  of  bitter  suffering  endured  with  the 
aid  of  religion. 

The  other  unknown,  whose  appearance  suggested 
the  teacher  of  rhetoric  and  the  man  of  business  at 
the  same  time,  was  of  medium  height,  stout  and 
active  none  the  less:  his  face  betrayed  the  jovial 
character  peculiar  to  the  notaries  and  solicitors  of 
Paris. 

The  costumes  of  the  four  men  presented  the  phe- 
nomenon of  perfect  neatness  due  to  the  pride  of  the 
person  who  took  care  of  them.  The  same  hand, 
Manon's,  could  be  detected  in  the  smallest  details. 
Their  coats  were  ten  years  old  perhaps,  and  they 
were  kept  in  as  perfect  a  state  of  preservation  as  a 
cure's  coats,  by  the  occult  power  of  the  servant  and 
by  constant  use.  The  four  men  wore  the  livery,  so 
to  speak,  of  a  system  of  existence,  they  were  all 
possessed  by  the  same  thought,  their  glances  said 
the  same  words,  their  faces  breathed  gentle  resigna- 
tion, provoking  tranquillity. 

"Do  I  presume  too  far,  madame,"  said  Godefroid, 
"in  asking  the  names  of  these  gentlemen?  lam 
ready  to  tell  them  the  story  of  my  life;  may  I  not 


86  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

learn  so  much  of  theirs  as  the  proprieties  permit  me 
to  know?" 

"Monsieur's  name  is  Monsieur  Nicolas,"  answered 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  indicating  the  tall,  thin 
man;  "he  is  a  colonel  of  gendarmerie,  retired  with 
the  rank  of  brigadier-general. — Monsieur,"  she 
added,  indicating  the  short,  stout  man,  "is  an 
ex-counselor  of  the  royal  court  at  Paris,  who  with- 
drew from  the  magistracy  in  1830;  his  name  is 
Monsieur  Joseph.  Although  you  have  been  here 
only  since  yesterday,  I  will  tell  you  that  in  the 
world  Monsieur  Nicolas  bore  the  name  of  Marquis 
de  Montauran  and  Monsieur  Joseph  that  of  Lecamus, 
Baron  de  Tresnes;  but  to  us,  as  to  everybody  else, 
those  names  no  longer  exist;  these  gentlemen  are 
without  heirs;  they  anticipate  the  oblivion  that 
awaits  their  families,  and  they  are  simply  Messieurs 
Nicolas  and  Joseph,  as  you  will  be  Monsieur 
Godefroid." 

When  he  heard  those  names,  one  so  famous  in 
the  annals  of  royalism  by  reason  of  the  catastrophe 
which  put  an  end  to  the  uprising  of  the  Chouans  in 
the  early  years  of  the  Consulate,  the  other  so 
revered  in  the  annals  of  the  old  Parliament  of  Paris, 
Godefroid  started  involuntarily;  but  as  he  looked  at 
those  two  relics  of  the  two  greatest  things  in  the 
history  of  the  crumbled  monarchy — the  nobility  and 
the  gown — he  could  detect  no  turn  of  expression, 
no  change  of  feature  that  implied  the  existence 
of  a  worldly  thought.  The  two  men  no  longer 
remembered,  or  did  not  choose  to  remember, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  87 

what  they  had  been.  It  was  Godefroid's  first 
lesson. 

"Each  of  your  names,  messieurs,  is  a  whole 
history  in  itself,"  he  said  respectfully. 

"The  history  of  our  time,"  replied  Monsieur 
Joseph,  "of  a  mass  of  ruins." 

"You  are  in  good  company,  "said  Monsieur  Alain, 
with  a  smile. 

The  last-named  gentleman  may  be  described  in 
two  words:  he  was  the  petty  bourgeois  of  Paris,  an 
honest  bourgeois  with  the  face  of  a  calf,  set  off  by 
white  hair,  but  made  insipid  by  an  eternal  smile. 

As  for  the  priest,  Abbe  de  Veze,  his  cloth  told 
the  whole  story.  The  priest  who  does  his  duty  is 
recognized  at  the  first  glance  you  exchange  with 
him. 

The  thing  that  most  impressed  Godefroid  at  the 
beginning  was  the  profound  respect  manifested  by 
the  four  boarders  for  Madame  de  la  Chanterie:  all 
of  them — even  the  priest,  notwithstanding  the  sacred 
character  that  his  functions  bestowed  upon  him — 
bore  themselves  as  if  they  were  in  a  queen's 
presence.  Godefroid  noticed  the  abstemiousness  of 
all  his  table-companions.  Each  of  them  ate  for  the 
sole  purpose  of  maintaining  life.  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  took  a  single  peach  and  half  a  bunch  of 
grapes,  as  did  each  of  her  former  guests,  but  she 
bade  her  new  boarder  not  to  imitate  their  modera- 
tion, by  offering  him  each  plate  in  turn. 

Godefroid's  curiosity  was  aroused  to  the  highest 
pitch  by  this  beginning.  When  they  returned  to 


88  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

the  salon  after  breakfast,  he  was  left  alone,  while 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  held  a  little  private  council 
with  the  four  friends  in  a  window-recess.  This 
conference,  which  was  carried  on  without  any 
animation,  lasted  nearly  half  an  hour.  They  talked 
in  undertones,  exchanging  words  which  each  one 
seemed  to  have  thought  out  beforehand.  From 
time  to  time  Messieurs  Alain  and  Joseph  turned 
over  the  leaves  of  a  memorandum-book. 

"Look  over  the  faubourg,"  said  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  to  Monsieur  Nicolas,  as  he  was  leaving 
the  room. 

Those  were  the  first  words  Godefroid  was  able  to 
catch. 

"And  you,  the  Saint-Marceau  quarter,"  she  con- 
tinued, addressing  Monsieur  Joseph. — "Beat  up  the 
Faubourg  Saint-Germain,  and  try  to  find  there  what 
we  need,"  she  added,  looking  at  Abbe  de  Veze,  who 
at  once  took  his  leave. — "And  do  you,  my  dear 
Alain,"  she  said,  smiling  upon  the  last  of  the  four, 
"go  over  the  whole  field. — There,  to-day's  business 
is  attended  to,"  she  said,  returning  to  Godefroid. 

She  sat  down  in  her  armchair,  took  from  a  small 
work-table  in  front  of  her  some  of  the  linen  that 
had  already  been  cut  out,  and  commenced  to  sew 
as  briskly  as  if  she  were  engaged  on  task-work. 

Godefroid,  lost  in  conjecture  and  believing  that  a 
royalist  conspiracy  was  on  foot,  took  his  landlady's 
remark  for  an  opening,  and  began  to  study  her, 
taking  a  seat  beside  her.  He  was  struck  by  the 
remarkable  dexterity  with  which  she  worked,  for 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  89 

everything  about  her  betrayed  the  great  lady.  She 
worked  as  rapidly  as  a  seamstress,  for  there  are 
certain  indications  by  which  anybody  can  distinguish 
the  work  of  the  professional  from  that  of  an  amateur. 

"You  work  as  if  you  knew  the  trade!"  said 
Godefroid. 

"Alas!"  she  replied  without  raising  her  head,  "I 
used  to  work  at  it  from  necessity." 

Two  great  tears  started  from  the  old  lady's  eyes 
and  fell  from  her  cheeks  upon  the  linen  she  held  in 
her  hand. 

"Pardon  me,  madame!"  cried  Godefroid. 

Madame  de  la  Chanterie  glanced  at  her  new  lodger 
and  saw  upon  his  face  such  an  expression  of  regret 
that  she  made  him  a  friendly  sign.  Having  wiped  her 
eyes,  she  at  once  recovered  the  characteristic  tran- 
quillity of  her  face,  which  was  placid  rather  than  cold. 

"Monsieur  Godefroid — for  you  are  already  aware 
that  here  you  will  be  called  by  your  baptismal  name 
and  no  other — in  this  house  you  are  amid  the  debris 
of  a  great  tempest.  We  were  all  bruised  and 
wounded  in  our  hearts,  in  our  family  affections  or  in 
our  fortunes  by  that  hurricane  of  forty  years'  dura- 
tion, which  has  overthrown  the  royal  power  and  the 
religion,  and  scattered  abroad  the  elements  of  which 
the  old  France  was  made  up.  Remarks  that  seem 
harmless  wound  us  all,  and  that  is  the  reason  of  the 
silence  that  prevails  here.  We  rarely  speak  of  our- 
selves; we  have  forgotten  ourselves  and  have  found 
a  way  to  substitute  another  life  for  our  own.  And 
it  was  because  it  seemed  to  me,  judging  from  what 


90  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

you  said  at  Mongenod's,  that  there  was  some  simi- 
larity between  your  situation  and  ours,  that  I 
persuaded  my  four  friends  to  receive  you  among  us; 
indeed,  we  needed  to  find  one  monk  more  for  our 
convent.  But  what  are  you  going  to  do?  One 
doesn't  court  solitude  without  some  moral  purpose." 

"Hearing  you  speak  thus,  madame,  I  should  be 
very  happy  if  you  would  become  the  arbiter  of  my 
destiny." 

"You  speak  like  a  man  of  the  world,"  she  replied, 
"and  you  are  trying  to  flatter  me,  a  woman  of 
sixty! — my  dear  child,"  she  continued,  "understand 
that  you  are  among  people  who  firmly  believe  in 
God,  all  of  whom  have  felt  His  hand,  and  who  have 
given  themselves  to  Him  almost  as  completely  as  the 
Trappists.  Have  you  noticed  the  deep-rooted 
feeling  of  security  of  the  true  priest  when  he  has 
given  himself  to  the  Lord,  when  he  listens  to  the 
voice  and  forces  himself  to  be  a  docile  instrument  in 
the  fingers  of  Providence?  He  has  no  more  vanity, 
nor  self-esteem,  nor  any  of  those  things  that  inflict 
continual  wounds  upon  worldly  people;  his  peace  of 
mind  resembles  that  of  the  fatalist,  his  resignation 
enables  him  to  endure  anything.  The  true  priest,  an 
Abbe  de  Veze,  is  like  a  child  with  its  mother,  for  the 
Church,  my  dear  monsieur,  is  a  loving  mother.  But  a 
man  may  become  a  priest  without  a  shaven  crown,  all 
priests  are  not  in  holy  orders.  To  devote  one's  self  to 
doing  good  is  to  imitate  the  good  priest,  it  is  to  obey 
God!  I  am  not  preaching  to  you,  I  am  not  seeking 
to  convert  you,  but  to  explain  our  life  to  you." 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  91 

"Teach  me,  madame,"  said  Godefroid,  com- 
pletely subjugated,  "so  that  1  may  not  infringe  any 
article  of  your  code!" 

"You  would  have  too  great  a  task;  you  will 
learn  by  degrees.  But  above  all  things,  never 
mention  your  misfortunes  here,  for  they  are  the 
merest  child's  play  compared  with  the  terrible  catas- 
trophes with  which  God  has  stricken  those  with 
whom  your  lot  is  now  cast." 

While  she  was  speaking,  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
continued  to  ply  her  needle  with  despairing  regu- 
larity; but  at  that  point  she  raised  her  head  and 
looked  at  Godefroid:  she  found  him  fascinated  by 
the  penetrating  sweetness  of  her  voice,  which,  let  it 
be  said,  possessed  a  sort  of  apostolic  unction.  The 
young  patient  gazed  with  admiration  at  the  truly 
extraordinary  phenomenon  presented  by  his  com- 
panion, whose  face  fairly  glowed.  A  rosy  flush  had 
overspread  her  waxen  cheeks,  her  eyes  sparkled, 
the  youthful  enthusiasm  of  the  soul  gave  life  to  her 
slight  wrinkles  which  seemed  to  add  charm  to  her 
expression,  and  everything  about  her  solicited 
affection.  At  that  moment,  Godefroid  realized  the 
depth  of  the  abyss  that  lay  between  that  woman 
and  any  commonplace  sentiment;  he  saw  that  she 
had  attained  an  inaccessible  mountain -top  to  which 
religion  had  guided  her,  and  he  was  still  too  worldly 
not  to  be  stung  to  the  quick,  not  to  long  to  go  down 
into  the  abyss,  to  climb  the  steep  peak  on  the  other 
side  where  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  had  taken  her 
stand,  and  to  stand  beside  her  there.  Devoting  his 


Q2  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

energies  the  while  to  a  thorough  study  of  the 
woman,  he  told  her  of  the  disappointments  of  his 
life  and  all  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  tell  in 
Mongenod's  office,  where  he  had  confined  himself 
to  a  statement  of  his  present  position. 

"Poor  child!" 

That  maternal  exclamation  from  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie's  lips,  fell  at  intervals  like  soothing  balm 
upon  the  young  man's  heart. 

"What  can  I  substitute  for  so  many  unfulfilled 
hopes,  for  so  much  unrequited  affection?"  he  asked 
at  last,  glancing  at  his  landlady,  who  had  become 
pensive. 

"I  came  here,"  he  continued,  "to  reflect  and  to 
decide  what  course  to  take.  I  have  lost  my  mother, 
take  her  place — " 

"Will  you  give  me  the  obedience  of  a  son?" 
she  said. 

"Yes,  if  you  give  me  the  affection  that  wins 
obedience." 

"Very  well,  we  will  try." 

Godefroid  put  out  his  hand  to  take  one  of  his 
landlady's,  which  she,  divining  his  purpose,  gave 
him  and  he  put  it  respectfully  to  his  lips.  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie  had  a  wonderfully  beautiful  hand, 
without  wrinkles,  neither  plump  nor  thin,  so  white 
that  a  young  woman  might  have  envied  it,  and  of  a 
shape  to  be  copied  by  a  sculptor.  Godefroid  gazed 
admiringly  at  her  hands,  finding  them  in  harmony 
with  the  fascination  of  her  voice  and  the  celestial 
limpidity  of  her  glance. 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  9$ 

"Stay  here!"  she  said,  rising  and  returning  to  her 
own  room. 

Godefroid  experienced  the  keenest  emotion,  and 
did  not  know  to  what  order  of  ideas  to  attribute  her 
latest  manoeuvre;  his  perplexity  was  not  of  long 
duration,  for  she  returned  at  once  with  a  book  in  her 
hand. 

"Here,  my  child,"  she  said,  "are  the  prescriptions 
of  an  eminent  physician  for  the  soul.  When  the 
ordinary  course  of  life  fails  to  afford  us  the  happiness 
we  expected  from  it,  we  must  seek  happiness  in  the 
higher  life,  and  this  is  the  key  to  a  new  world. 
Read  a  chapter  in  this  book  night  and  morning;  but 
bestow  all  your  attention  on  it  as  you  read,  study 
every  word  as  if  it  were  written  in  a  foreign  tongue. 
A  month  hence  you  will  be  a  different  man.  For 
twenty  years  I  have  read  a  chapter  every  day,  and 
my  three  friends,  Messieurs  Nicolas,  Joseph  and 
Alain,  would  no  more  think  of  omitting  that  duty 
than  of  omitting  to  go  to  bed  at  night  and  rise  in 
the  morning;  follow  their  example  for  love  of  God, 
for  love  of  me,"  she  said  with  divine  serenity,  with 
impressive  confidence. 

Godefroid  turned  the  book  over  and  read  on  the 
back,  in  gilt  letters:  Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
old  lady's  ingenuousness,  her  child-like  innocence, 
her  certainty  that  she  was  doing  the  right  thing, 
abashed  the  ex-dandy.  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's 
manner  and  her  joy  were  precisely  like  those  of  a 
woman  offering  a  hundred  thousand  francs  to  a 
merchant  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy. 


94  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"I  have  used  it  twenty -six  years,"  she  said. 
"God  grant  that  the  book  may  carry  the  germs  of  con- 
tagion! Go  and  buy  me  another,  for  this  is  the  time 
when  certain  people  come  who  must  not  be  seen." 

Godefroid  bowed  to  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  and 
went  up  to  his  room,  where  he  threw  the  book  on 
a  table,  crying: 

"Dear,  good  woman!" 

Like  all  books  that  are  constantly  read,  the  book 
opened  at  a  certain  place.  Godefroid  sat  down  as  if 
to  put  his  ideas  in  order,  for  he  had  been  more 
deeply  moved  that  morning  than  during  the  most 
agitated  months  of  his  whole  life,  and  his  curiosity 
especially  had  never  been  so  intense.  Letting  his 
eyes  wander  at  random,  as  one  generally  does 
whose  mind  is  deep  in  meditation,  he  glanced 
mechanically  at  the  two  pages  at  which  the  book 
was  open  and  read  this  heading: 

CHAPTER  XII 
Of  the  Royal  Way  of  the  Holy  Cross 

He  took  up  the  book  and  this  passage  of  that 
beautiful  chapter  caught  his  eye  as  if  written  in 
letters  of  fire: 

"He  went  before,  bearing  His  cross,  and  died  for 
thee  on  the  cross;  that  thou  mightest  also  bear  thy 
cross  and  desire  to  die  on  the  cross  with  Him. 

"Go  where  thou  wilt,  seek  whatsoever  thou  wilt, 
thou  shalt  not  find  a  higher  way  above,  nor  a  safer 
way  below,  than  the  way  of  the  holy  cross. 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  95 

"Dispose  and  order  all  things  according  to  thy  will 
and  judgment;  yet  thou  shalt  ever  find,  that  of  neces- 
sity thou  must  surfer  somewhat,  either  willingly  or 
against  thy  will,  and  so  thou  shalt  ever  find  the  cross. 

"Sometimes  thou  shalt  be  forsaken  of  God,  some- 
times thou  shalt  be  troubled  by  thy  neighbors;  and, 
what  is  more,  oftentimes  thou  shalt  be  wearisome 
to  thyself. 

"Neither  canst  thou  be  delivered  or  eased  by  any 
remedy  or  comfort;  but  so  long  as  it  pleaseth  God, 
thou  must  bear  it. 

"For  God  will  have  thee  learn  to  suffer  tribulation 
without  comfort;  and  that  thou  subject  thyself  wholly 
to  Him,  and  by  tribulation  become  more  humble." 

"What  a  book!"  said  Godefroid  to  himself,  turn- 
ing over  the  leaves  of  that  chapter. 

And  he  fell  upon  these  words: 

"When  thou  shalt  come  to  this  estate,  that  tribu- 
lation shall  seem  sweet,  and  thou  shalt  relish  it  for 
Christ's  sake;  then  think  it  to  be  well  with  thee, 
for  thou  hast  found  a  paradise  upon  earth." 

Vexed  by  such  simplicity,  the  true  characteristic 
of  strength,  and  furious  at  being  beaten  by  a  book, 
he  closed  it;  but  he  found  this  counsel  printed  in 
gilt  letters  on  the  green  morocco  cover: 

SEEK  ONLY  WHAT  is  EVERLASTING 
"Have  they  found  it  here?"  he  asked  himself. 


He  went  out  in  search  of  a  fine  copy  of  the 
Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ,  reflecting  that  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie  would  want  to  read  a  chapter  that 
evening;  he  went  down  stairs  and  into  the  street. 
He  stood  for  some  moments  near  the  gate,  uncertain 
in  which  direction  to  go,  wondering  at  what  book- 
shop he  had  better  purchase  the  book,  and,  as  he 
stood  there,  he  heard  the  noise  of  the  massive  porte- 
cochere  closing. 

Two  men  came  from  the  Hotel  de  la  Chanterie — if 
the  reader  has  carefully  observed  the  characteristics 
of  that  venerable  building,  he  will  have  recognized 
the  distinguishing  marks  of  the  old  hotels,  properly 
so-called.  Manon,  when  she  called  Godefroid  that 
morning,  asked  him  how  he  had  passed  his  first 
night  at  the  Hotel  de  la  Chanterie,  evidently  in 
joke. — Godefroid  followed  without  any  idea  of  spy- 
ing upon  the  two  men,  who  took  him  for  an  ordinary 
passer-by  and  talked  loud  enough  for  him  to  over- 
hear their  conversation,  the  streets  being  deserted. 

The  two  men  returned  through  Rue  Massillon, 
skirted  the  walls  of  Notre-Dame  and  crossed  the 
Square. 

"Well,  you  see,  old  man,  it's  easy  enough  to 
catch  their  sous. — We  must  agree  with  them,  that's 
all!" 

"But  we  are  in  debt." 
7  (97) 


98  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"To  whom?" 

"To  that  woman." 

"I  would  like  right  well  to  see  that  old  carcass  sue 
me,  I'd—" 

"You  would — you  would  pay  her." 

"You  are  right,  for  by  paying  her,  I  would  get 
more  out  of  her  later  than  I  did  to-day." 

"Wouldn't  it  be  better  to  follow  their  advice  and 
succeed  in  getting  a  good  start?" 

"Bah!" 

"For  she  said  they  would  find  somebody  to 
advance  the  funds." 

"You  would  have  to  quit  the  life  too,  you  know — " 

"I  am  sick  of  the  life,  it  isn't  like  being  a  man,  to 
be  forever  in  one's  cups." 

"Very  good;  but  didn't  the  abbe  let  Pere  Marin 
go  the  other  day?  He  refused  him  everything." 

"Pshaw!  Pere  Marin  wanted  to  go  into  schemes 
that  only  succeed  with  millionaires." 

At  that  moment  the  two  men,  whose  general 
appearance  denoted  shop-foremen,  suddenly  retraced 
their  steps  to  cross  Pont  de  l'H6tel-Dieu  on  their 
way  to  the  Place  Maubert  quarter;  Godefroid 
stepped  aside,  but  when  they  saw  how  closely 
he  was  following  them,  they  exchanged  a  suspicious 
glance  and  their  faces  expressed  regret  at  having 
spoken. 

Godefroid  was  the  more  interested  in  their  con- 
versation, because  it  reminded  him  of  the  episode 
of  Abbe  de  Veze  and  the  mechanic  on  the  day  of 
his  first  visit  to  Rue  Chanoinesse. 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  99 

"What  can  be  going  on  at  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie's?"  he  asked  himself  once  more. 

Meditating  upon  that  question,  he  walked  as  far  as 
a  bookshop  on  Rue  Saint- Jacques  and  returned  with 
a  sumptuously  bound  copy  of  the  finest  edition 
published  of  the  Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ.  As  he 
walked  slowly  homeward,  in  order  to  arrive  exactly 
at  the  dinner  hour,  he  reviewed  his  sensations 
during  that  morning,  and  he  was  conscious  of  a 
remarkable  mental  rejuvenation.  He  was  animated 
by  intense  curiosity,  but  his  curiosity  paled  never- 
theless in  the  bright  light  of  an  inexplicable  longing: 
he  felt  drawn  toward  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  he 
had  a  fierce  desire  to  attach  himself  to  her,  to 
sacrifice  himself  for  her,  to  please  her,  to  earn  words 
of  praise  from  her;  in  a  word,  he  was  a  victim  of 
Platonic  love,  he  felt  that  she  possessed  unspeakable 
grandeur  of  mind,  and  he  determined  to  probe  her 
mind  to  the  bottom.  He  was  impatient  to  learn  the 
secrets  of  the  existence  of  those  pure  Catholics. 
In  short,  the  majesty  of  religion  was  so  closely  allied 
to  all  that  is  most  majestic  in  French  womanhood, 
in  that  little  circle  of  faithful  souls,  that  he  resolved 
to  leave  no  stone  unturned  to  procure  his  own 
admission  to  it.  These  sentiments  might  have 
sprung  up  very  quickly  even  in  the  heart  of  a  busy 
Parisian;  but  Godefroid  was,  as  we  have  seen,  in 
the  position  of  a  shipwrecked  sailor  who  clings  to 
the  slenderest  plank,  believing  it  to  be  solid,  and 
his  mind  was  well  ploughed,  ready  to  receive  any 
sort  of  seed. 


100  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

He  found  the  four  friends  in  the  salon  and  he 
presented  the  book  to  Madame  de  la  Chanterie, 
saying: 

"I  did  not  wish  you  to  be  without  it  to-night." 

"God  grant,"  she  replied,  glancing  at  the  superb 
volume,  "that  this  may  be  your  last  attack  of 
extravagance!" 

As  he  noticed  that  the  clothing  of  the  four  men 
was  reduced,  even  in  the  smallest  details,  to  what 
was  absolutely  essential  for  cleanliness  and  utility, 
and  found  that  the  same  system  was  rigorously 
applied  in  every  part  of  the  house,  Godefroid 
realized  the  full  scope  of  that  rebuke,  so  gracefully 
expressed. 

"Madame,"  he  said,  "the  people  you  bestowed 
your  favor  on  this  morning  are  monsters;  I  unwit- 
tingly overheard  what  they  said  when  they  left 
the  house,  and  it  was  marked  by  the  blackest 
ingratitude." 

"They  were  the  two  locksmiths  from  Rue  Mouffe- 
tard,"  said  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  to  Monsieur 
Nicolas,  "that  is  your  affair." 

"The  fish  escapes  more  than  once  before  he's 
caught,"  observed  Monsieur  Alain  with  a  laugh. 

Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  absolute  indifference 
upon  learning  of  the  immediate  ingratitude  of  men  to 
whom  she  had  undoubtedly  given  money,  surprised 
Godefroid,  who  became  pensive. 

The  dinner  was  enlivened  by  Monsieur  Alain  and 
the  former  counselor;  but  the  old  soldier  was  grave  and 
cold  and  melancholy;  his  face  bore  the  ineradicable 


MADAME   DE  LA  CHANTERIE  IOI 

stamp  of  bitter  chagrin,  of  a  never-ending  grief. 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  bestowed  her  attentions 
upon  all  alike.  Godefroid  felt  that  he  was  being 
narrowly  watched  by  his  fellow-boarders,  whose 
circumspection  equaled  their  piety;  his  vanity  led 
him  to  imitate  their  reserve,  and  he  measured  his 
words  very  carefully. 

This  first  day  was  much  more  animated  than  those 
which  followed.  Godefroid,  finding  himself  excluded 
from  all  the  serious  conferences,  had  no  choice, 
during  the  few  hours  in  the  morning  and  evening 
when  he  was  alone  in  his  room,  but  to  open  the 
Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  he  ended  by  studying 
it  as  one  studies  a  book,  when  one  owns  but  the 
one  and  is  imprisoned.  Under  such  circumstances, 
it  is  the  same  with  the  book  as  with  a  woman  when 
one  is  alone  with  her:  just  as  you  must  either  detest 
or  adore  the  woman,  so  you  become  permeated  with 
the  author's  spirit  or  else  you  do  not  read  ten  lines. 

Now,  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  impressed  by  the 
Imitation,  which  is  to  doctrine  what  action  is  to 
thought.  Catholicism  vibrates  through  it,  lives  and 
moves  in  it  and  engages  in  a  hand-to-hand  struggle 
with  human  life.  The  book  is  a  sure  friend.  It 
speaks  to  all  the  passions,  to  all  difficulties,  even 
worldly  ones;  it  resolves  all  objections,  it  is  more 
eloquent  than  all  the  preachers,  for  its  voice  is  yours, 
it  speaks  in  your  heart,  and  you  understand  it 
through  your  soul.  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  Gospel 
translated,  adapted  to  all  seasons,  made  appropriate 
to  all  situations.  It  is  astonishing  that  the  Church 


102  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

never  canonized  Gerson,  for  the  Holy  Spirit  evidently 
guided  his  pen. 

So  far  as  Godefroid  was  concerned,  the  Hotel  de 
la  Chanterie  contained  a  woman  as  well  as  the  book; 
and  he  became  more  and  more  attached  to  that 
woman  every  day;  he  discovered  in  her  flowers 
buried  under  the  snow  of  many  winters,  he  caught 
glimpses  of  the  delights  of  that  sanctified  friendship 
which  religion  permits,  which  the  angels  smile  upon 
— the  same  friendship  which  united  those  five  per- 
sons and  against  which  nothing  evil  could  prevail. 
There  is  one  sentiment  more  exalted  than  all  others, 
a  love  of  soul  for  soul,  which  resembles  the  rare 
flowers  that  bloom  upon  the  highest  mountain  tops 
and  of  which  one  or  two  specimens  are  revealed  to 
mankind  from  century  to  century;  a  love  by  which 
lovers  often  are  united  and  which  explains  many 
faithful  attachments  that  are  inexplicable  by  ordinary 
human  laws.  An  attachment  without  misunder- 
standings, without  clouds,  without  vanity,  without 
conflict,  without  contrasts  even,  the  moral  natures 
are  so  smoothly  blended  therein.  Godefroid  had  a 
premonition  of  the  raptures  of  that  boundless, 
infinite  sentiment,  born  of  Catholic  charity.  At 
times  he  could  not  believe  in  the  reality  of  the 
spectacle  before  his  eyes,  and  he  sought  an  explana- 
tion of  the  sublime  friendship  of  the  five,  being 
amazed  to  find  true  Catholics,  Christians  of  the 
early  days  of  the  Church,  in  the  Paris  of  1835. 

A  week  after  he  became  a  member  of  the  house- 
hold, Godefroid  witnessed  such  a  concourse  of 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  103 

people,  he  overheard  fragments  of  conversation 
concerning  subjects  of  such  gravity,  that  he  realized 
that  the  life  of  those  five  persons  must  be  one  of  prodi- 
gious activity.  He  noticed  that  no  one  of  them  slept 
more  than  six  hours  at  the  most.  All  of  them  had 
already  done  one  day's  work,  so  to  speak,  before 
the  second  breakfast.  Strangers  brought  and  carried 
away  sums  of  money,  sometimes  of  considerable 
amount.  The  clerk  from  Mongenod's  counting-room 
was  a  frequent  visitor,  and  he  always  came  early  in 
the  morning,  so  that  his  duties  would  not  be 
neglected  on  account  of  those  visits,  which  were  a 
departure  from  the  regular  customs  of  the  banking- 
house. 

One  evening,  Monsieur  Mongenod  himself  came 
and  Godefroid  noticed  in  his  manner  toward  Mon- 
sieur Alain  a  suggestion  of  filial  familiarity  mingled 
with  the  respect  he  manifested  for  him  as  well  as 
for  the  other  three  of  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's 
lodgers. 

That  evening  the  banker  asked  Godefroid  only  the 
most  commonplace  questions:  if  he  were  comfortable 
there,  if  he  intended  to  remain,  etc.,  while  urging 
him  to  persevere  in  his  resolution. 

"I  lack  only  one  thing  to  be  happy,"  said  Gode- 
froid. 

"What  is  that?"  the  banker  asked. 

"An  occupation." 

"An  occupation!"  cried  Abbe  de  Veze.  "So  you 
have  changed  your  mind,  for  you  came  to  our 
cloister  in  search  of  rest." 


104  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"Rest,  without  the  prayer  that  gave  life  to  the 
monasteries,  without  the  meditation  that  peopled 
the  desert  places,  becomes  a  disease,"  observed 
Monsieur  Joseph  sententiously. 

"Learn  book-keeping,"  said  Monsieur  Mongenod 
smiling,  "in  that  way  you  can  become  very  useful 
to  my  friends  in  a  few  months." 

"Oh!  with  the  greatest  pleasure,"  cried  Gode- 
froid. 

The  next  day  was  Sunday,  and  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  called  upon  her  new  lodger  to  give  her 
his  arm  to  go  to  high  mass. 

"It  is  the  only  violence  I  propose  to  do  you,"  she 
said.  "Many  times  during  this  last  week  I  have 
longed  to  speak  to  you  about  your  salvation;  but  I 
do  not  think  that  the  time  has  come.  Your  time 
would  be  fully  occupied  if  you  shared  our  beliefs, 
for  then  you  could  share  our  work." 

At  mass  Godefroid  noticed  the  fervent  devotion  of 
Messieurs  Nicolas,  Joseph  and  Alain;  but,  as  he  had 
had  an  opportunity  during  the  few  days  he  had 
known  them  to  form  an  accurate  idea  of  the  superior 
intellect,  the  perspicacity,  the  extended  knowledge 
and  the  great  mental  powers  of  those  gentlemen,  he 
thought  that,  if  they  humbled  themselves  so,  the 
Catholic  religion  must  have  secrets  which  had 
escaped  him. 

"After  all,"  he  said  to  himself,  "it  is  the  religion 
of  the  Bossuets,  the  Pascals,  the  Racines,  Saint- 
Louis,  Louis  XIV.,  the  Raphaels,  the  Michael-Angelos, 
the  Ximenes,  the  Bayards,  the  Du  Guesclins,  and 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  105 

I,  poor  insignificant  creature  that  I  am,  could  not 
venture  to  compare  myself  with  those  great  minds, 
those  statesmen,  those  poets,  those  illustrious 
captains." 

If  no  valuable  information  were  to  be  derived 
from  these  trivial  details,  it  would  be  imprudent  to 
dwell  upon  them  now,  but  they  are  essential  to  the 
interest  of  this  narrative  in  which  the  public  of 
to-day  will  find  it  difficult  to  believe,  and  which 
begins  with  an  almost  absurd  incident:  the  empire 
acquired  by  a  woman  of  sixty  over  a  young  man 
who  is  thoroughly  disillusioned. 

"You  did  not  pray,"  said  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
to  Godefroid  at  the  door  of  N6tre-Dame;  "not  for 
anyone,  not  even  for  the  repose  of  your  mother's 
soul!" 

Godefroid  blushed  and  made  no  reply. 

"Do  me  the  favor,"  said  Madame  de  la  Chanterie, 
"to  go  up  to  your  room  and  not  come  down  for  an 
hour.  If  you  love  me,"  she  added,  "you  will 
reflect  upon  the  first  chapter  in  the  third  book  of 
the  Imitation,  the  chapter  entitled  Of  Inward  Con- 
solation." 

Godefroid  bowed  coldly  and  went  upstairs. 

"The  devil  take  them!"  he  exclaimed,  in  real 
indignation.  "What  do  they  want  of  me  here? 
what  sort  of  business  is  going  on? — Bah!  all  women, 
even  the  most  pious,  use  the  same  wiles;  and  even  if 
Madame,"  he  said,  calling  his  landlady  by  the  name 
her  lodgers  gave  her,  "has  no  grudge  against  me,  it 
is  clear  that  some  scheme  is  brewing  against  me." 


106  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

Possessed  by  that  thought,  he  tried  to  look  from 
his  window  into  the  salon,  but  the  arrangement  of 
the  house  made  it  impossible.  He  went  down  one 
floor,  then  hurried  back  to  his  room;  for  it  occurred 
to  him  that,  in  accordance  with  the  rigid  principles 
of  the  other  inmates  of  the  house,  an  act  of  espio- 
nage would  result  in  his  being  turned  out  at  once. 
To  lose  the  esteem  of  those  five  persons  seemed  to 
him  quite  as  serious  a  matter  as  to  disgrace  himself 
publicly.  He  waited  about  three-quarters  of  an 
hour  and  determined  to  surprise  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  by  shortening  the  time  she  had  mentioned. 
It  occurred  to  him  to  justify  himself  by  a  falsehood, 
by  saying  that  his  watch  was  out  of  order,  and  he 
set  it  forward  twenty  minutes.  Then  he  went  down 
without  the  slightest  noise.  He  reached  the  door  of 
the  salon  and  opened  it  abruptly. 

He  saw  a  man  of  some  note,  still  young,  a  poet 
whom  he  had  often  met  in  society,  Victor  de 
Vernisset,  kneeling  at  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's 
feet  and  kissing  the  hem  of  her  dress.  If  the  sky 
had  fallen  to  pieces,  as  if  it  were  made  of  glass,  as 
the  ancients  believed,  Godefroid  would  have  been 
less  surprised  than  by  that  spectacle.  He  conceived 
the  most  horrible  ideas,  and  a  reaction  even  more 
horrible  ensued  when,  as  he  was  about  to  give 
utterance  to  the  first  satirical  remark  that  came  to 
his  lips,  he  saw  Monsieur  Alain  in  a  corner  counting 
thousand-franc  notes. 

In  an  instant  Vernisset  was  on  his  feet  and  the 
worthy  Alain  stood  as  if  transfixed.  Meanwhile 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  107 

Madame  de  la  Chanterie  darted  at  Godefroid  a 
glance  that  turned  him  to  stone,  for  her  new  guest's 
twofold  change  of  expression  had  not  escaped  her. 

"Monsieur  is  one  of  us,"  she  said  to  the  young 
poet,  pointing  to  Godefroid. 

"You  are  very  lucky,  my  dear  fellow,"  said 
Vernisset,  "you  are  saved! — But,  madame,"  he 
added,  turning  to  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  "even 
if  all  Paris  had  seen  me  I  should  have  been  over- 
joyed, for  I  can  never  pay  my  debt  to  you! — I  am 
yours  forever!  I  belong  to  you  absolutely.  Give 
me  whatever  commands  you  choose,  I  will  obey! 
My  gratitude  will  be  without  bounds.  I  owe  you  my 
life,  it  is  yours." 

"Well,  well,  young  man,"  said  Goodman  Alain, 
"be  prudent  hereafter;  but  work,  and  above  all 
things,  do  not  attack  religion  in  your  works. — In  a 
word,  remember  your  debt!" 

As  he  spoke,  he  handed  him  an  envelope  stuffed 
with  the  banknotes  he  had  been  counting.  Victor 
de  Vernisset's  eyes  were  wet  with  tears;  he  respect- 
fully kissed  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  hand  and 
took  his  leave,  after  exchanging  a  handshake  with 
Monsieur  Alain  and  Godefroid. 

"You  have  disobeyed  Madame,"  said  the  good- 
man  solemnly,  with  a  sad  expression  on  his  face 
that  Godefroid  had  never  seen  there  before;  "that 
is  a  capital  offense;  another  of  the  same  sort  and  we 
part.  That  will  be  hard  for  you,  after  we  had 
judged  you  worthy  of  our  confidence." 

"My  dear  Alain,"  said  Madame  de  la  Chanterie, 


108  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"pray  oblige  me  by  saying  no  more  about  this 
piece  of  folly.  We  must  not  ask  too  much  of  a  new 
arrival,  who  has  had  no  great  misfortunes,  who  has 
no  religion,  whose  only  vocation  is  extreme  curiosity, 
and  who  does  not  as  yet  believe  in  us." 

"Forgive  me,  madame,"  rejoined  Godefroid;  "I 
propose  from  this  moment  to  be  worthy  of  you,  I 
submit  to  whatever  tests  you  may  deem  necessary 
before  admitting  me  to  the  secret  of  your  occupa- 
tions, and  if  Monsieur  1'Abbe  de  Veze  will  undertake 
to  enlighten  me,  I  will  place  my  mind  and  my 
reason  in  his  keeping." 

These  words  made  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  so 
happy  that  a  slight  flush  rose  to  her  cheeks;  she 
grasped  Godefroid's  hand,  pressed  it  warmly  and 
said  with  singular  emotion: 

"It  is  well!" 

That  evening  after  dinner  one  of  the  vicars- 
general  of  the  diocese  of  Paris  called,  as  did  two 
canons,  two  ex-mayors  of  Paris  and  a  lady  promi- 
nent in  one  of  the  charitable  associations.  There 
was  no  card-playing;  the  general  conversation  was 
gay  without  being  trivial. 

A  visitor  who  caused  Godefroid  much  surprise 
was  the  Comtesse  de  Cinq-Cygne,  one  of  the 
queens  of  the  aristocracy,  whose  salon  was  inacces- 
sible to  bourgeois  and  parvenus.  The  presence  of 
that  great  lady  in  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  salon 
was  extraordinary  enough  in  itself,  but  the  way  in 
which  the  two  women  met  and  treated  each  other 
was  something  inexplicable  to  Godefroid,  for  it 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  IOQ 

spoke  of  an  intimate  acquaintance  and  constant 
intercourse  which  added  immensely  to  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie's  prestige.  Madame  de  Cinq-Cygne 
was  affable  and  gracious  to  her  friend's  four  friends 
and  showed  marked  respect  for  Monsieur  Nicolas. 
It  will  be  seen  that  social  vanity  still  influenced 
Godefroid,  who,  although  hitherto  undecided,  deter- 
mined to  comply,  with  or  without  conviction,  with 
everything  that  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  or  her 
friends  required  of  him,  in  order  to  induce  them  to 
admit  him  to  membership  in  their  order,  or  to  obtain 
a  knowledge  of  their  secrets,  promising  himself  that 
he  would  make  up  his  mind  as  to  his  own  course 
then,  and  not  until  then. 

The  next  day  he  went  to  the  book-keeper  to 
whom  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  recommended  him, 
agreed  with  him  as  to  the  hours  when  they  should 
work  together,  and  in  that  way  arranged  for  the 
employment  of  all  his  time,  for  Abbe  de  Veze 
catechized  him  in  the  morning,  he  passed  two  hours 
every  day  with  the  book-keeper,  and  worked 
between  breakfast  and  dinner  at  the  imaginary 
accounts  which  his  master  gave  him  to  keep. 

Several  days  passed  thus,  during  which  Gode- 
froid learned  to  feel  the  charm  of  a  life  in  which 
every  hour  has  its  own  duty.  The  recurrence  of 
known  tasks  at  stated  hours,  and  perfect  regularity 
explain  many  contented  lives  and  prove  how  deeply 
the  founders  of  the  religious  orders  had  meditated 
upon  human  nature.  Godefroid,  who  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  listen  attentively  to  Abbe  de  Veze, 


110  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

already  had  some  apprehension  concerning  the 
future  life,  and  was  beginning  to  feel  that  he  was 
ignorant  of  the  seriousness  of  religious  questions. 
Lastly,  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  with  whom  he 
stayed  about  an  hour  after  the  second  breakfast, 
allowed  him  to  discover,  from  day  to  day,  fresh 
treasures  in  her;  he  had  never  imagined  goodness 
so  perfect  or  of  such  vast  scope.  A  woman  of 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  apparent  age  no  longer 
has  the  petty  foibles  of  the  young  woman;  she  is  a 
friend  who  offers  you  all  the  delicate  feminine 
attentions,  who  displays  the  graces,  the  charms 
which  nature  inspires  in  woman  for  man's  benefit, 
and  who  no  longer  sells  them;  she  is  either  detes- 
table or  perfect,  for  all  her  pretensions  either  exist 
deeper  than 'the  skin  or  are  dead,  and  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie  was  perfect.  She  seemed  never  to 
have  been  young,  her  glance  never  spoke  of  the 
past.  Far  from  allaying  Godefroid's  curiosity,  a 
more  and  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  her 
sublime  character,  and  the  discoveries  of  each 
succeeding  day  redoubled  his  desire  to  learn  the 
story  of  the  early  life  of  that  woman,  who  seemed 
to  him  a  saint.  Had  she  ever  loved?  had  she  been 
married?  had  she  been  a  mother?  Nothing  about 
her  indicated  the  old  maid,  she  displayed  the 
graceful  breeding  of  a  woman  of  high  birth,  and 
her  robust  health,  the  extraordinary  phenomenon  of 
her  conversation  led  one  to  feel  that  she  lived  a  sort 
of  divine  existence  and  knew  nothing  of  ordinary 
life.  All  the  associates,  except  the  jovial  Alain, 


MADAME   DE   LA   CHANTERIE  III 

had  suffered;  but  even  Monsieur  Nicolas  seemed  to 
award  the  palm  of  martyrdom  to  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  and  yet  the  memory  of  her  misfortunes 
was  so  held  in  check  by  the  resignation  of  a  devout 
Catholic,  by  her  secret  occupations,  that  she  seemed 
to  have  been  happy  always. 

"You  are,"  Godefroid  said  to  her  one  day,  "your 
friends'  life,  you  are  the  bond  that  unites  them; 
you  are,  so  to  speak,  the  housekeeper  of  a  great 
work;  and  as  we  are  all  mortal,  I  ask  myself  what 
would  become  of  your  partnership  without  you." 

"That  is  what  alarms  them;  but  Providence,  to 
whom  we  owe  our  book-keeper,"  she  said  with  a 
smile,  "will  provide.  Moreover,  I  shall  be  on  the 
lookout—" 

"Will  your  book-keeper  soon  be  in  the  service  of 
your  business  house?"  laughed  Godefroid. 

"That  depends  on  him,"  she  replied  with  a  smile. 
"Let  him  become  truly  religious,  godly,  let  him  lay 
aside  every  trace  of  selfishness,  let  him  give  no 
further  thought  to  the  wealth  of  our  house,  let  him 
think  about  rising  above  petty  social  considerations 
by  using  the  two  wings  God  has  given  him — " 

"What  are  they?" 

"Simplicity  and  purity,"  she  replied.  "Your 
ignorance  is  sufficient  evidence  that  you  neglect  the 
reading  of  our  book,"  she  added,  laughing  at  the 
innocent  subterfuge  to  which  she  had  had  recourse 
to  ascertain  if  Godefroid  were  reading  the  Imitation 
of  Jesus  Christ.  "At  least,  saturate  yourself  with 
the  spirit  of  St.  Paul's  epistle  concerning  charity. 


112  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

You  will  not  be  ours,"  she  said  with  a  sublime 
expression,  "but  we  shall  be  yours,  and  it  will  be 
vouchsafed  to  you  to  count  the  vastest  wealth  that 
ever  sovereign  possessed;  you  will  enjoy  it  as  we 
enjoy  it;  and  let  me  tell  you,  if  you  remember  the 
Thousand  and  One  Nights,  the  treasures  of  Aladdin 
are  as  nothing  compared  to  what  we  possess.  And 
so  for  a  year  past  we  have  not  known  what  to  do, 
we  have  not  been  equal  to  the  demands  upon  us: 
we  felt  the  need  of  a  book-keeper." 

As  she  spoke,  she  studied  Godefroid's  face;  he 
did  not  know  what  to  think  of  that  strange  confi- 
dence, but  as  the  scene  between  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  and  Madame  Mongenod  often  recurred  to 
his  mind,  he  wavered  between  doubt  and  faith. 

"Ah!  you  will  be  very  fortunate!"  she  said. 


Godefroid  was  so  consumed  by  curiosity,  that  he 
determined  on  the  spot  to  force  the  four  friends  to 
break  their  silence  by  questioning  them  concerning 
themselves.  Now,  of  all  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's 
guests,  the  one  toward  whom  Godefroid  felt  most 
strongly  attracted,  and  who  seemed  likely  to  appeal 
most  strongly  to  people  of  every  class,  was  the 
kindly,  cheerful,  simple-hearted  Monsieur  Alain. 
By  what  road  had  Providence  guided  that  artless 
creature  to  that  monastery  without  bolts  and  bars, 
in  the  heart  of  Paris,  whose  inmates,  although 
absolutely  free,  submitted  to  the  guidance  of  regu- 
lations faithfully  observed,  as  if  they  were  subject 
to  the  strictest  of  superiors?  What  drama,  what 
circumstance  had  led  him  to  turn  aside  from  his  road 
through  the  world,  to  follow  that  path  so  painful  to 
tread  through  the  miseries  of  the  capital? 

One  evening  Godefroid  determined  to  call  upon 
his  neighbor,  with  the  purpose  of  gratifying  a 
curiosity  more  keenly  aroused  by  the  apparent 
impossibility  of  any  serious  catastrophe  in  that  life, 
than  it  would  have  been  by  the  anticipation  of 
listening  to  some  terrifying  episode  in  the  career  of 
a  corsair.  At  the  words  "Come  in!"  spoken  in 
reply  to  his  gentle  tap  on  the  door,  Godefroid 
turned  the  knob  and  found  Monsieur  Alain  sitting 
by  his  fire  reading  a  chapter  of  the  Imitation  of 
8  (us) 


114  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Jesus  Christ,  before  retiring,  by  the  light  of  two 
candles,  each  provided  with  one  of  the  movable 
green  eye-shades  that  whist-players  use. 

The  good  man  was  dressed  in  drawers  with  feet 
and  a  dressing-gown  of  gray  flannel,  and  his  feet 
were  supported  on  a  level  with  the  fire,  by  a  cushion, 
which,  as  well  as  his  slippers,  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie  had  worked  for  him  in  small-stitch  embroidery. 
The  old  man's  fine  head,  without  other  covering 
than  a  crown  of  white  hair  almost  like  that  of  an 
old  monk,  stood  out  in  bold  relief  against  the  brown 
background  of  the  material  with  which  his  capacious 
easy -chair  was  covered. 

Monsieur  Alain  gently  placed  his  dog's-eared  book 
on  the  little  table  with  twisted  legs,  and  with  the 
other  hand  waved  the  young  man  to  a  second 
easy-chair,  removing  the  eye-glasses  from  the  end 
of  his  nose. 

"Are  you  ill,  that  you  have  left  your  room  at  this 
time  of  night?"  he  asked  Godefroid. 

"My  dear  Monsieur  Alain,"  Godefroid  replied 
frankly,  "I  am  tormented  by  a  curiosity  which  a 
single  word  from  you  will  prove  to  be  very  innocent 
or  very  presumptuous;  that  statement  is  enough 
to  show  you  the  spirit  in  which  I  shall  ask  my 
question." 

"Oho!  what  is  your  question?"  he  exclaimed, 
looking  at  the  young  man  with  an  almost  sly 
expression. 

"What  were  the  circumstances  that  led  to  your 
living  the  life  you  are  living  here?  For  one  must 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  11$ 

be  disgusted  with  the  world,  must  have  been  deeply 
wounded  or  have  wounded  others,  to  embrace  the 
doctrine  of  such  utter  self-abnegation." 

"Why  so,  my  child?"  replied  the  old  man, 
allowing  one  of  those  smiles  which  made  his  mouth 
one  of  the  most  affectionate  that  ever  painter's 
genius  dreamed  of,  to  wander  over  his  full  red  lips; 
"may  one  not  be  moved  to  profound  pity  by  the 
spectacle  of  the  misery  that  exists  within  the  walls 
of  Paris?  Did  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  need  the  spur 
of  remorse  or  wounded  vanity  to  induce  him  to 
devote  his  life  to  deserted  children?" 

"That  question  closes  my  mouth  the  more  surely, 
because,  if  ever  a  mortal  resembled  that  Christian 
hero,  you  are  the  man,"  replied  Godefroid. 

Despite  the  roughness  which  advancing  years  had 
given  to  the  skin  of  his  almost  yellow,  wrinkled 
face,  the  old  man  blushed  profusely;  for  he  seemed 
to  have  invited  the  compliment,  of  which  his  well- 
known  modesty  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  have 
thought.  Godefroid  was  well  aware  that  none  of 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  guests  had  the  slightest 
taste  for  that  sort  of  incense.  Nevertheless,  honest 
Alain  in  his  excessive  simplicity  was  more  em- 
barrassed by  his  scruples  on  the  subject  than  a 
young  girl  would  have  been  for  having  conceived 
some  unworthy  thought. 

"Although  I  am  still  a  long  way  behind  him, 
morally  speaking,"  rejoined  Monsieur  Alain,  "I  am 
very  sure  that  I  resemble  him  physically." 

Godefroid  essayed  to  speak,  but  he  was  restrained 


Il6  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

by  a  gesture  from  the  old  man,  whose  nose  really 
had  the  tuberculous  appearance  of  the  saint's  nose, 
and  whose  face,  which  looked  like  an  old  vine- 
dresser's, was  a  perfect  duplicate  of  the  coarse, 
vulgar  physiognomy  of  the  founder  of  the  Foundling 
Hospital. 

"So  far  as  I  am  concerned,  you  are  right,"  he 
continued;  "my  calling  for  the  work  we  are  doing 
was  determined  by  a  paroxysm  of  repentance  due 
to  an  adventure — " 

"An  adventure,  you!"  exclaimed  Godefroid 
gently,  forgetting  the  answer  he  had  at  first  intended 
to  make  the  old  man. 

"Oh!  bless  my  soul,  what  I  am  going  to  tell  you 
will  seem  a  trifle,  mere  folly  to  you,  I  doubt  not; 
but  before  the  tribunal  of  conscience  it  was  some- 
thing more  than  that.  If  you  persist  in  your  desire 
to  take  part  in  our  work,  after  listening  to  me,  you 
will  understand  that  the  sentiments  exist  in  propor- 
tion to  the  strength  of  mind,  and  that  a  thing  that 
does  not  disturb  a  strong  mind  may  very  well  tor- 
ment the  conscience  of  a  weak-minded  Christian." 

It  would  be  impossible  to  describe  the  curiosity  of 
the  neophyte  after  this  species  of  preface.  What 
crime  could  that  excellent  man,  whom  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  called  her  Paschal  Lamb,  have  committed? 
It  was  as  interesting  as  a  book  entitled  the  Crimes 
of  a  Sheep.  Sheep  may  be  ferocious  creatures  in 
their  dealings  with  the  grass  and  flowers.  If  we  are 
to  believe  one  of  the  mildest  republicans  of  that 
epoch,  the  kindest  of  mortals  would  be  cruel  to 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  117 

something.  But  Goodman  Alain!  who,  like  Sterne's 
Uncle  Toby,  would  not  crush  a  fly  after  it  had  stung 
him  twenty  times!  that  pure  soul  to  be  tortured  by 
remorse! 

This  reflection  represents  the  pause  the  old  man 
made  after  the  words  "Listen  to  me!"  meanwhile 
pushing  his  cushion  toward  Godefroid's  feet  so  that 
he  might  share  it  with  him. 

"I  was  a  little  over  thirty  years  old,"  he  began; 
"it  was  in  '98,  as  nearly  as  I  remember,  a  time 
when  young  men  were  likely  to  have  had  the 
experience  of  men  of  sixty.  One  morning,  a  little 
before  my  breakfast  hour,  nine  o'clock,  my  old 
housekeeper  announced  one  of  the  friends  whom  I 
had  retained  throughout  the  tempests  of  the  Revolu- 
tion. So  my  first  words  were  an  invitation  to 
breakfast.  My  friend,  a  young  man  of  twenty -eight, 
named  Mongenod,  accepted  the  invitation,  but  in  an 
embarrassed  way;  I  had  not  seen  him  since  1793 — " 

"Mongenod!"  cried  Godefroid,  "the—" 

"If  you  want  to  know  the  end  before  the  begin- 
ning," the  old  man  interposed  with  a  smile,  "how 
am  I  to  tell  you  my  story?" 

Godefroid  made  a  gesture  which  promised  absolute 
silence. 

"When  Mongenod  sat  down,"  continued  Alain, 
"I  noticed  that  his  shoes  were  sadly  worn.  His 
spotted  stockings  had  been  washed  so  often  that  I 
had  difficulty  in  discovering  that  they  were  made  of 
silk.  His  trousers,  of  apricot-colored  cashmere, 
were  worn  threadbare  by  long  use,  which  was  also 


Il8  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

attested  by  a  difference  of  shade  in  risky  places, 
and  his  knee-buckles  seemed  to  me  to  be  of  common 
iron  instead  of  steel;  the  buckles  on  his  shoes 
were  of  the  same  metal.  His  flowered  white  waist- 
coat, yellowed  by  wear,  like  his  shirt,  whose  frills 
were  sadly  rumpled,  betrayed  extreme  but  decent 
destitution.  Last  of  all,  the  condition  of  his  houppe- 
lande — such  was  the  name  by  which  we  used  to  call 
a  single-caped  frockcoat,  cut  like  a  Crispin  cloak 
— confirmed  my  conviction  that  my  friend  had  fallen 
upon  evil  days.  The  houppelande,  which  was  of 
nut-brown  cloth,  exceedingly  threadbare  but  care- 
fully brushed,  had  a  collar  soiled  with  pomade  or 
powder,  and  white  metal  buttons  that  were  turning 
red.  He  was  so  shame-faced  in  all  that  frippery, 
that  I  dared  not  look  at  him.  His  claque,  a  sort  of 
semi-circle  of  felt,  which  it  was  the  fashion  in  those 
days  to  carry  under  the  arm  instead  of  wearing  it  on 
the  head,  must  have  seen  several  governments. 
Nevertheless,  my  friend  had  evidently  spent  a  few 
sous  at  the  barber's,  for  he  was  shaved.  His  hair 
was  gathered  up  behind,  fastened  with  a  comb, 
powdered  profusely  and  smelt  of  pomade.  I  saw 
two  parallel  chains  on  the  front  of  his  breeches,  two 
chains  of  tarnished  steel,  but  no  sign  of  a  watch  in 
the  fob.  It  was  winter  and  Mongenod  had  no  cloak; 
divers  large  drops  of  melted  snow  that  had  fallen 
from  the  roofs  of  the  houses  as  he  walked  along, 
spotted  the  collar  of  his  houppelande.  When  he 
removed  his  rabbit-skin  gloves  and  I  saw  his  right 
hand,  I  detected  the  marks  of  work  of  some  sort, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  119 

and  hard  work  too.  Now,  his  father,  who  was  an 
advocate  before  the  Grand  Conseil,  had  left  him 
some  property,  five  or  six  thousand  francs  a  year. 
I  realized  at  once  that  Mongenod  had  come  to  borrow 
of  me.  I  had  in  a  safe  hiding-place  two  hundred 
louis  d'or,  an  enormous  sum  for  those  days,  worth 
I  forget  how  many  hundred  thousand  francs  in 
assignats.  Mongenod  and  I  had  studied  at  the  same 
college,  Des  Grassins,  and  we  had  met  again  in  the 
office  of  the  same  attorney,  an  honest  man,  the 
excellent  Bordin.  When  a  man  has  passed  his 
youth  and  indulged  in  youthful  escapades  with  a 
school-fellow,  there  is  an  almost  sacred  bond  of 
sympathy  between  them;  his  voice  and  look  stir 
certain  chords  in  the  heart  that  vibrate  only  under 
the  influence  of  the  memories  he  revives.  Even 
when  one  has  had  just  grounds  for  complaint  against 
such  a  comrade,  all  the  rights  of  friendship  are  not 
done  away  with;  but  there  had  never  been  the 
slightest  disagreement  between  us.  At  the  time 
of  his  father's  death  in  1787,  Mongenod  was  richer 
than  I;  although  I  had  never  borrowed  from  him,  I 
had  sometimes  been  indebted  to  him  for  the  enjoy- 
ment of  pleasures  which  my  own  father's  rigorous 
treatment  made  impossible  to  me.  Had  it  not  been 
for  my  generous  school-fellow,  I  should  not  have 
seen  the  first  performance  of  the  Mariage  de  Figaro. 
Mongenod  was  then  what  was  called  a  charming 
gallant,  he  had  love-affairs;  I  used  to  rebuke  him 
for  his  readiness  to  form  new  ties  and  his  too 
accommodating  spirit;  his  purse  opened  easily,  he 


120  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

lived  handsomely,  he  would  have  served  as  your 
second  when  he  had  seen  you  but  twice. — Mon  Dieu, 
you  carry  me  back  to  the  days  of  my  youth!"  cried 
honest  Alain,  pausing  in  his  narrative,  and  smiling 
happily  at  Godefroid. 

"Do  you  bear  me  a  grudge  for  it?"  said  Gode- 
froid. 

"Oh!  no,  and  by  my  going  into  details  as  I  do, 
you  can  see  how  large  a  place  that  incident  fills  in 
my  life. — Mongenod,  a  man  of  excellent  heart  and 
approved  courage,  something  of  a  Voltairean,  was 
disposed  to  play  the  gentleman,"  continued  Monsieur 
Alain;  "his  education  at  Des  Grassins,  where  some 
scions  of  the  nobility  were  among  his  school-fellows, 
and  his  love-affairs  had  given  him  the  polished 
manners  of  men  of  condition,  who  were  then  called 
aristocrats.  You  can  imagine  now  how  great  my 
surprise  was  when  I  detected  in  Mongenod  the 
symptoms  of  destitution  which  degraded  the  fashion- 
able young  dandy  of  1787  in  my  eyes,  when  they 
left  his  face  to  scrutinize  his  clothing.  However,  as 
some  crafty  persons  designedly  adopted  the  external 
appearances  of  poverty  in  those  days  of  public 
misery,  and  as  there  were  other  sufficient  reasons 
for  disguising  one's  self,  I  awaited  an  explanation,  but 
not  without  inviting  it. 

"  'Well,  well,  what  sort  of  a  plight  is  this  for  you 
to  be  in,  my  dear  Mongenod?'  I  exclaimed,  accept- 
ing a  pinch  of  snuff  which  he  offered  me  in  an 
imitation  gold  snuff-box. 

"  'Sad   enough!'    he   replied.     'I   have   but   one 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  121 

friend  left,  and  you  are  he.  I  have  done  all  I  could 
do  to  avoid  coming  to  this,  but  I  am  here  to  ask  you 
for  a  hundred  louis.  It  is  a  large  sum,'  he  said, 
noticing  my  astonishment;  'but  if  you  should  give 
me  only  fifty,  I  should  be  unable  ever  to  repay  you; 
whereas,  if  I  fail  in  what  I  mean  to  undertake,  I 
shall  still  have  fifty  louis  with  which  to  try  my  for- 
tune in  other  directions;  and  I  do  not  know  what 
inspiration  despair  may  give  me.' 

"  'Have  you  nothing  at  all?'  I  asked. 

"  'I  have  five  sous  left  out  of  my  last  gold  piece,' 
he  replied,  choking  back  a  tear.  'Before  coming  to 
you,  I  had  my  boots  polished  and  visited  a  barber. 
I  have  what  clothes  I  am  wearing.  But,'  he  added 
with  an  eloquent  gesture,  'I  owe  my  landlady  a 
thousand  crowns  in  assignais,  and  our  eating-house 
keeper  refused  to  trust  me  yesterday.  So  I  am 
without  resource.' 

"  'And  what  do  you  expect  to  do?'  I  asked,  trying 
already  to  ascertain  his  thoughts. 

"  'To  enlist,  if  you  refuse — ' 

"  'You,  a  soldier!    You,  Mongenod!' 

"  'I  will  either  be  killed  or  become  General 
Mongenod.' 

"  'Very  well,'  I  said,  deeply  moved,  'eat  your 
breakfast  in  peace,  I  have  a  hundred  louis.' 

"Just  there,"  continued  the  good  man  with  a 
shrewd  glance  at  Godefroid,  "I  thought  it  necessary 
to  indulge  in  a  money-lender's  little  falsehood. 

"  'It  is  all  I  own  in  the  world,'  I  said  to  Mongenod; 
'I  was  awaiting  the  moment  when  public  securities 


122  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

should  reach  the  lowest  possible  point,  before 
investing  the  money,  but  I  will  put  it  in  your  hands, 
and  you  may  look  upon  me  as  your  partner;  I  leave 
it  to  your  conscience  to  see  that  it  is  repaid  in  due 
time.  An  honest  man's  conscience,'  I  added,  'is 
the  best  of  guarantees.' 

"Mongenod  gazed  earnestly  at  me  as  he  listened, 
and  seemed  to  be  engraving  my  words  on  his  heart. 
He  put  out  his  right  hand,  I  placed  my  left  hand  in 
it,  and  we  exchanged  a  warm  handclasp,  I  deeply 
moved,  he  without  trying  to  check  two  great  tears 
that  rolled  down  his  already  wasted  cheeks.  The 
sight  of  those  two  tears  tore  my  heart.  I  was  even 
more  touched  when,  forgetting  everything  in  the 
excitement  of  the  moment,  Mongenod  took  out  a 
wretched,  torn  cotton  handkerchief  to  wipe  his 
eyes. 

"  'Stay  here!'  I  said  to  him,  leaving  the  room  to 
go  to  my  hiding-place,  my  heart  as  agitated  as  if 
I  had  just  been  listening  to  a  woman's  confession 
that  she  loved  me.  I  returned  with  two  rolls  of  fifty 
louis  each. 

"  'Here,  count  them.' 

"He  refused  to  count  them,  but  looked  around  the 
room  in  search  of  a  writing  desk,  in  order  to  give 
me  an  acknowledgment,  as  he  said.  I  flatly  refused 
to  take  any  paper  from  him. 

"  'If  I  should  die,'  I  said,  'my  heirs  would  annoy 
you.  This  must  be  between  ourselves.' 

"Finding  me  so  good  a  friend,  Mongenod  laid  aside 
the  mask  of  chagrin  and  anxiety  he  had  worn  when 


MADAME   DE   LA  CHANTERIE  123 

he  came  in,  and  became  cheerful.  My  housekeeper 
served  us  some  oysters  with  white  wine,  an  omelet, 
kidneys  d,  la  brochette,  the  remains  of  a  Chartres  pie 
that  my  old  mother  had  sent  me,  a  little  dessert, 
coffee  and  Curacoa.  Mongenod,  who  had  been 
fasting  for  two  days,  did  full  justice  to  the  repast. 
We  sat  at  table  until  three  in  the  afternoon,  like  the 
best  friends  in  the  world,  talking  over  our  life  before 
the  Revolution.  Mongenod  told  me  how  he  had 
lost  his  fortune.  In  the  first  place,  the  fall  in  the 
securities  of  the  city  had  cut  off  two-thirds  of  his 
income,  for  his  father  had  invested  the  greater  part 
of  his  capital  in  them;  then,  after  selling  his  house 
on  Rue  de  Savoie,  he  had  been  obliged  to  take  his 
pay  in  assignats;  he  had  thereupon  taken  it  into  his 
head  to  publish  a  newspaper,  La  Sentinelle,  which 
had  forced  him  to  flee,  after  an  existence  of  six 
months.  At  that  moment  all  his  hopes  rested  upon 
the  success  of  a  comic  opera  entitled  Les  Peruvtens. 
This  last  disclosure  made  me  tremble.  Mongenod, 
turned  author,  after  running  through  his  money 
with  La  Sentinelle,  and  living  doubtless  at  the 
theatre,  on  terms  of  intimacy  with  Feydeau's 
singers,  with  musicians  and  the  curious  society  that 
hides  behind  the  drop-curtain,  no  longer  seemed  to 
me  the  same  Mongenod.  I  was  conscious  of  a  slight 
thrill  of  anxiety.  But  how  was  I  to  take  back  my 
hundred  louis?  I  could  see  the  shape  of  one  of  the 
rolls  in  each  pocket  of  his  breeches,  like  the  barrel 
of  a  pistol.  Mongenod  left  me.  When  I  found 
myself  alone,  no  longer  under  the  spell  of  that 


124  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

poignant,  cruel  poverty,  I  began  to  reflect  in  spite 
of  myself,  I  became  sober. 

"'Mongenod,'  I  thought,  'is  undoubtedly  sadly 
depraved,  and  he  has  been  acting  a  part  with 
me!' 

"His  cheerfulness  when  he  saw  me  recklessly 
give  him  such  an  enormous  sum,  seemed  to  me 
then  to  be  the  joy  of  a  stage  servant  laying  a  trap 
for  some  Geronte.  I  ended  where  I  should  have 
begun,  I  promised  to  make  inquiries  concerning  my 
friend  Mongenod,  who  had  written  his  address  for 
me  on  the  back  of  a  playing-card.  A  sort  of  delicacy 
prevented  me  from  going  to  see  him  the  next  day; 
he  might  have  scented  suspicion  in  my  promptitude. 
The  second  day  various  matters  took  up  all  my 
attention,  and  it  was  not  until  a  fortnight  had 
elapsed,  that,  having  seen  nothing  of  Mongenod,  I 
went  one  morning  from  the  Croix-Rouge,  where  I 
then  lived,  to  Rue  des  Moineaux,  where  he  lived. 
Mongenod  lodged  in  a  furnished  house  of  the  lowest 
order,  the  mistress  of  which,  however,  was  a  very 
excellent  woman,  the  widow  of  a  farmer-general 
who  died  on  the  scaffold;  being  completely  ruined, 
she  had  started  with  a  few  louis  upon  the  hazardous 
trade  of  lodging-house  keeper.  Since  then,  she  has 
had  seven  houses  in  the  Saint-Roch  quarter,  and 
has  made  her  fortune. 

"  'Citizen  Mongenod  is  not  in,  but  there  is  some- 
body in  his  room/  she  informed  me. 

"The  last  words  aroused  my  curiosity.  I  went 
up  to  the  fifth  floor.  A  charming  young  woman 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  12$ 

opened  the  door! — oh!  a  most  beautiful  creature — 
who,  with  a  very  suspicious  air,  stood  in  the  door- 
way. 

"  'I  am  Alain,  Mongenod's  friend/  I  said. 

"The  door  was  at  once  thrown  open  and  I  entered 
a  horrible  garret,  which  was  kept  wonderfully  clean 
and  neat,  however,  by  the  young  woman  in  ques- 
tion. She  pushed  a  chair  in  front  of  a  fireplace 
filled  with  ashes  but  without  fire,  in  a  corner  of 
which  I  saw  a  common  earthen  chafing-dish.  It 
was  freezing  cold. 

"'I  am  very  happy,  monsieur,'  she  said,  taking 
my  hands  and  pressing  them  warmly,  'to  have  an 
opportunity  of  expressing  my  gratitude  to  you,  for 
you  are  our  savior.  Except  for  you,  perhaps,  I 
never  should  have  seen  Mongenod  again.  He  would 
have — what? — thrown  himself  into  the  river.  He 
was  desperate  when  he  left  me  to  go  to  see  you.' 

"Upon  looking  closely  at  the  young  woman,  I 
was  amazed  to  see  a  silk  handkerchief  on  her  head, 
and  under  the  handkerchief,  behind  the  head  and 
around  the  temples,  a  black  shadow;  but,  by  dint 
of  looking  and  looking,  I  discovered  that  her  head 
was  shaved. 

"  'Are  you  ill?'  I  asked,  when  I  felt  sure  of  that 
extraordinary  fact. 

"She  glanced  into  a  wretched,  dirty  mirror  over 
the  fireplace  and  began  to  blush;  then  her  eyes 
filled  with  tears. 

"  'Yes,  monsieur,'  she  replied  hastily;  'I  had 
horrible  pains  in  my  head  and  I  was  forced  to  part 


126  THE   OTHER  SIDE 

with  my  beautiful  hair,  that  used  to  fall  to  my 
heels.' 

"  'Have  I  the  honor  of  speaking  to  Madame 
Mongenod?'  I  asked. 

"  'Yes,  monsieur,'  she  replied,  with  a  truly 
celestial  glance. 

"I  took  leave  of  the  poor  little  woman.  I  went 
down  stairs  with  the  intention  of  making  the  land- 
lady talk,  but  she  had  gone  out.  I  was  convinced 
that  the  young  woman  must  have  sold  her  hair  in 
order  to  buy  bread.  I  went  to  a  dealer  in  wood  and 
sent  half  a  load  to  the  house,  requesting  the 
teamster  and  sawyers  to  give  the  little  woman  a 
receipted  bill  in  the  name  of  Monsieur  Mongenod. — 
That  is  the  end  of  the  period  of  what  I  long 
called  my  idiocy,"  said  Goodman  Alain,  clasping 
his  hands  and  raising  them  a  little  with  a  repentant 
gesture. 

Godefroid  could  not  refrain  from  smiling,  and  his 
smile,  as  we  shall  see,  was  sadly  misplaced. 

"Two  days  later,"  the  old  man  continued,  "I 
met  one  of  those  persons  who  are  neither  friends  nor 
enemies,  but  with  whom  we  have  some  intercourse 
at  long  intervals — what  we  call  an  acquaintance — 
one  Monsieur  Barillaud,  who,  when  Les  Peruviens 
was  casually  mentioned,  said  that  he  was  a  friend 
of  the  author. 

"  'Do  you  know  Citizen  Mongenod?'  I  asked. 

"In  those  days  we  were  still  obliged  to  use  the 
familiar  mode  of  address,"  he  explained  to  Godefroid 
by  way  of  parenthesis. 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  127 

"The  citizen  looked  at  me,"  he  continued,  resum- 
ing his  narrative,  "and  exclaimed: 

"  'I  should  be  very  glad  if  I  had  never  known 
him,  for  he  has  borrowed  money  of  me  several 
times,  and  manifests  sufficient  friendship  for  me  to 
neglect  to  return  it.  He's  a  devil  of  a  man;  a  good 
fellow  enough,  but  full  of  illusions! — oh!  he  has  a 
fiery  imagination. — I  do  him  justice,  he  doesn't 
mean  to  deceive;  but,  as  he  deceives  himself  in 
everything,  the  result  is  that  he  acts  like  a 
swindler.' 

"  'How  much  does  he  owe  you?' 

"  'Oh!  a  few  hundred  crowns. — He's  a  basket  with 
a  hole  in  it  No  one  knows  where  his  money  leaks 
out, — perhaps  he  doesn't  know  himself/ 

"  'Has  he  any  means?' 

"  'Oh  yes!'  said  Barillaud,  with  a  laugh.  'At  this 
moment  he  is  talking  of  buying  land  among  the 
savages,  in  the  United  States.' 

"I  carried  away  that  drop  of  vinegar,  which 
calumny  had  implanted  in  my  heart  and  which 
soured  all  my  kindly  inclinations.  I  went  to  see 
my  former  employer,  who  acted  as  my  adviser.  As 
soon  as  I  had  entrusted  to  him  the  secret  of  my  loan 
to  Mongenod  and  the  way  in  which  I  had  acted: 

"  'What,'  he  cried,  'do  you  say  that  one  of  my 
old  clerks  is  acting  like  that!  Why,  you  ought  to 
have  put  him  off  until  the  next  day  and  come  to  see 
me.  You  would  have  learned  that  I  have  given 
orders  not  to  let  Mongenod  pass  my  door.  He  has 
already  borrowed  a  hundred  crowns  of  me  within  a 


128  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

year,  an  enormous  sum!  And  three  days  before  he 
went  to  breakfast  with  you,  he  met  me  in  the  street 
and  described  his  misery  in  such  heartrending  terms 
that  I  gave  him  two  louis.' 

"  'If  I  have  been  duped  by  a  clever  actor,  so 
much  the  worse  for  him,  not  for  me/  I  said.  'But 
what  am  I  to  do?' 

."  'You  must  at  least  obtain  some  acknowledgment 
from  him,  for  a  debtor,  however  unreliable  he  is, 
may  become  solvent,  and  then  you  are  paid.' 

"Thereupon  Bordin  produced  from  a  box  on  his 
desk  an  envelope  on  which  I  saw  the  name  of 
Mongenod;  he  showed  me  three  notes  for  a  hundred 
francs  each. 

"  'The  first  time  he  comes/  he  said,  'I  shall  make 
him  add  the  interest,  the  two  louis  I  gave  him  and 
whatever  other  sum  he  asks  me  for;  then  he  must 
sign  an  acceptance  for  the  whole  amount,  with 
interest  from  the  day  of  the  loan.  Then  I  shall  be 
all  right  and  I  shall  have  a  way  of  enforcing  pay- 
ment.' 

"  'Very  well/  I  said  to  Bordin,  'can't  you  make 
me  all  right  in  the  same  way?  for  you  are  an  honest 
man  and  whatever  you  do  is  done  as  it  should  be.' 

"  'In  that  way  I  am  master  of  the  field/  replied 
the  ex-attorney.  'When  a  man  does  as  you  have 
done,  he's  at  the  mercy  of  a  man  who  may  make  a 
fool  of  him.  For  my  part,  I  don't  propose  to  be 
made  a  fool  of!  Laugh  at  an  ex-attorney  at  the 
Ch^telet!  ta-ra-ra!  Every  man  to  whom  another 
lends  a  sum  of  money  as  you  foolishly  lent  yours 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  129 

to  Mongenod,  comes  sooner  or  later  to  believe  that 
it  belongs  to  him.  It  isn't  your  money,  it's  his 
money,  and  you  become  his  creditor,  an  embarrass- 
ment to  him.  Thereupon  he  tries  to  rid  himself  of 
you,  making  a  bargain  with  his  conscience;  and  out 
of  every  hundred  men,  seventy-five  will  do  their 
best  never  to  meet  you  again  so  long  as  they  live.' 

"  'So  you  consider  that  only  twenty-five  per  cent 
of  mankind  are  honest?" 

"  'Did  I  say  that?'  he  replied  with  a  sly  smile. 
'That's  a  large  percentage.' 

"Two  weeks  later  I  received  a  letter  from  Bordin 
asking  me  to  call  upon  him  and  get  my  note.  I  went. 

"'I  tried  to  save  fifty  louis  for  you,'  he  said. — I 
had  told  him  of  my  conversation  with  Mongenod. — 
'But  the  birds  have  flown.  Say  good-bye  to  your 
yellow  boys!  Your  canary  birds  have  flown  to  a 
warmer  climate.  We  have  a  sharp  fellow  to  deal 
with.  Did  he  not  assure  me  that  his  wife  and 
father-in-law  had  gone  to  the  United  States  with 
sixty  of  your  louis  to  buy  land,  and  that  he  expected 
to  join  them  there  and  make  a  fortune  in  order  to 
return  and  pay  his  debts,  of  which  he  gave  me  a 
schedule  in  due  form,  for  he  requested  me  to  find 
out  what  might  become  of  his  creditors.  Here  is  the 
statement  summarized,'  said  Bordin,  showing  me  a 
paper  from  which  he  read  the  total:  'Seventeen 
thousand  francs  in  cash!  a  sum  with  which  he  could 
buy  a  house  worth  two  thousand  crowns  a  year!' 

"Having  replaced  the  papers  in  the  box,  he 
handed  me  a  note  of  hand  for  the  equivalent  of  a 
9 


130  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

hundred  louis  in  gold,  expressed  in  assignats,  with  a 
note  from  Mongenod,  acknowledging  the  receipt  of 
a  hundred  louis  in  gold  and  agreeing  to  pay  the 
interest. 

"  'I  am  all  right  now,  am  I?'  said  I  to  Bordin. 

"  'He  won't  deny  the  debt,'  my  former  employer 
replied;  'but  where  there  is  nothing,  the  king,  that 
is  to  say  the  Directory,  loses  its  rights. ' 

"With  that  I  left  him.  Believing  that  I  had  been 
robbed  by  a  method  which  the  law  does  not  reach, 
I  withdrew  my  esteem  from  Mongenod  and  resigned 
myself  very  philosophically  to  my  fate. 

"If  I  dwell  upon  these  commonplace  and  appar- 
ently trivial  details,"  continued  the  good  man, 
looking  at  Godefroid,  "I  have  my  reasons  for  so 
doing;  I  am  trying  to  explain  to  you  how  I  was  led 
to  act  as  the  majority  of  men  act,  at  random  and  in 
defiance  of  the  rules  that  even  savages  observe  in 
the  most  trifling  matters.  Many  people  would  justify 
themselves  by  throwing  the  blame  on  a  prudent 
man  like  Bordin;  but  it  seems  to  me  to-day  that  my 
conduct  was  inexcusable.  When  it  is  a  question  of 
passing  judgment  upon  one  of  our  fellow-creatures 
by  refusing  him  our  esteem  forever,  we  should  rely 
upon  ourselves  alone;  and  again: — ought  we  to 
constitute  our  own  hearts  a  tribunal  before  which 
to  cite  a  neighbor?  Where  would  be  the  law?  by 
what  measure  should  we  mete  out  justice?  May 
not  the  very  thing  that  is  weakness  in  us  be  strength 
in  our  neighbor?  There  are  as  many  different 
circumstances  as  there  are  human  beings,  for  the 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  131 

same  thing  never  happens  twice  in  the  same  way. 
Society  alone  has  the  right  of  repression  over  its 
members;  for  I  deny  it  the  right  of  punishment:  to 
repress  is  enough  for  it  and  it  carries  with  it,  too, 
sufficient  cruelty. 

"So,  paying  heed  to  the  high-flown  talk  of  a 
Parisian  man  of  business  and  admiring  the  shrewd- 
ness of  my  former  employer,  I  passed  condemnation 
upon  Mongenod,"  the  good  man  continued,  after 
giving  utterance  to  that  sublime  reflection.  Les 
Perwviens  was  announced.  I  expected  that  Mongenod 
would  send  me  a  ticket  for  the  first  performance.  I 
was  conscious  of  a  feeling  of  superiority  to  him;  my 
friend  seemed  to  me,  by  reason  of  the  loan,  a  sort 
of  vassal  who  owed  me  a  multitude  of  things  over 
and  above  the  interest  on  my  money.  We  all  act 
so!  Not  only  did  Mongenod  not  send  me  a  ticket, 
but  when  I  saw  him  at  a  distance  in  the  dark 
passage-way  under  the  Feydeau  theatre — well- 
dressed,  almost  dandified — he  pretended  not  to  see 
me;  and  when  he  had  passed  me  and  I  started  to 
run  after  him,  my  debtor  made  his  escape  down  a 
side  passage.  That  incident  annoyed  me  keenly. 
My  irritation  was  not  a  mere  passing  sentiment,  but 
it  increased  with  time.  It  happened  thus.  A  few 
days  after  this  meeting  I  wrote  Mongenod  a  letter  in 
substantially  these  words: 

"  'My  friend,  you  cannot  think  me  indifferent  to  anything 
that  may  happen  to  you,  whether  it  be  good  or  ill-fortune. 
Are  you  satisfied  with  Les  Ptruviens?  You  forgot  me,  as  you 
had  a  perfect  right  to  do,  for  the  first  performance,  which  I 


132  THE   OTHER  SIDE 

would  have  applauded  so  heartily!    However,  I  trust  that  it 
will  be  a  veritable  Peru  to  you,  for  I  have  employment  for 
my  money  and  I  count  upon  you  when  the  note  matures. 
"  'Your  friend, 

"'ALAIN.' 

"After  waiting  a  fortnight  without  receiving  a 
reply,  I  went  to  Rue  des  Moineaux.  The  landlady 
informed  me  that  the  little  woman  had  really  gone 
away  with  her  father  at  the  time  Mongenod  had 
told  Bordin  of  their  departure.  Mongenod  left  his 
garret  early  in  the  morning  and  did  not  return  until 
late  at  night.  Another  fortnight  passed  and  I  wrote 
another  letter  in  these  terms: 

"  'My  dear  Mongenod,  I  see  nothing  of  you,  you  do  not 
answer  my  letters:  I  cannot  understand  your  conduct;  what 
would  you  think  of  me  if  I  should  act  so  to  you?' 

"I  did  not  sign  that  letter  Your  friend;  I  simply 
wrote  Kind  regards.  A  month  passed  and  I  heard 
nothing  from  Mongenod.  Les  Peruviens  did  not 
achieve  the  great  success  that  Mongenod  expected. 
I  attended  the  twentieth  performance  to  try  to  get 
my  money,  and  the  audience  was  very  small. 
Madame  Scio  was  very  beautiful  though.  They 
told  me  in  the  green  room  that  the  play  was  to  be 
given  several  times  more.  I  called  on  Mongenod 
seven  times  but  did  not  find  him,  and  every  time  I 
left  my  name  with  the  landlady.  Then  I  wrote  to 
him: 

"  'Monsieur,  if  you  do  not  wish  to  forfeit  my  esteem  after 
forfeiting  my  friendship,  you  will  treat  me  now  as  a  stranger, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  133 

that  is  to  say  with  courtesy,  and  tell  if  you  will  be  prepared 
to  pay  your  note  at  its  maturity.  My  future  movements  will 
be  guided  by  your  reply. 

"  'Your  servant, 

"  'ALAIN.' 

"No  reply.  It  was  the  year  1799;  a  year  had 
passed,  lacking  two  months.  When  the  note 
matured  I  went  to  Bordin.  Bordin  took  the  note, 
had  it  protested  and  brought  suit.  The  disasters 
experienced  by  the  French  armies  had  depreciated 
the  funds  to  such  an  extent  that  an  expenditure  of 
seven  francs  would  yield  five  francs  a  year.  Thus 
I  could  have  invested  a  hundred  louis  in  gold  to 
bring  me  in  fifteen  hundred  francs.  Every  morning, 
as  I  drank  my  coffee  and  read  my  newspaper,  I 
would  say: 

"  'That  infernal  Mongenod!  If  it  weren't  for 
him  I  should  have  a  thousand  crowns  a  year!' 

"Mongenod  had  become  my  b$te  noire,  I  grumbled 
at  him  as  I  walked  along  the  street. 

"  'Bordin  is  on  hand,'  I  said  to  myself,  'he  will 
push  him  hard,  and  it  will  be  a  good  thing!' 

"My  hatred  vented  itself  in  imprecations,  I  cursed 
the  man  and  charged  him  with  every  vice  in  the 
calendar.  Ah!  Monsieur  Barillaud  was  quite  right 
in  what  he  said  to  me.  At  last  one  morning  my 
debtor  appeared  at  my  rooms,  no  more  embarrassed 
than  if  he  did  not  owe  me  a  centime;  when  my  eye 
fell  upon  him  I  felt  all  the  shame  that  he  should 
have  felt.  I  was  like  a  criminal  caught  in  the  act. 
I  was  very  ill  at  ease.  The  i8th  Brumaire  had 


134  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

come  and  gone,  everything  was  in  fine  shape,  the 
Funds  were  rising  and  Bonaparte  had  gone  to  Italy 
for  the  campaign  that  ended  with  the  battle  of 
Marengo. 

"'It  is  unfortunate,  monsieur,'  I  said,  receiving 
him  standing,  'that  I  owe  your  visit  only  to  the 
urgency  of  a  bailiff.' 

"Mongenod  took  a  chair  and  sat  down. 

"  'I  have  come  to  tell  you,'  he  replied,  'that  I  am 
not  in  a  position  to  pay  you.' 

"  'You  made  me  lose  an  opportunity  to  invest  my 
money  before  the  First  Consul's  arrival,  when  I 
might  have  made  a  little  fortune.' 

"'I  know  it,  Alain,'  he  said,  'I  know  it.  But 
what  is  the  use  of  suing  and  forcing  me  deeper  into 
debt  by  loading  me  down  with  costs?  I  have  heard 
from  my  wife  and  my  father-in-law;  they  have  bought 
land  and  have  sent  me  a  memorandum  of  the  things 
they  need  to  establish  themselves:  I  have  had  to 
use  all  my  ready  money  in  making  those  purchases. 
Now  I  propose  to  sail  on  a  Dutch  vessel,  from 
Flushing,  where  I  have  sent  all  my  little  belongings, 
and  nobody  can  prevent  my  going.  Bonaparte  has 
won  the  battle  of  Marengo,  a  treaty  of  peace  will 
soon  be  signed  and  I  can  without  fear  join  my 
family,  for  my  dear  little  wife  was  enceinte  when 
she  went  away.' 

"  'So  you  have  sacrificed  me  in  your  own  inter- 
est?' I  said. 

"  'Yes,'  he  replied,  'I  thought  that  you  were  my 
friend.' 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  135 

"At  that  moment  I  felt  inferior  to  Mongenod,  he 
seemed  so  sublime  to  me  as  he  uttered  those  simple 
yet  grand  words. 

"  'Did  I  not  tell  you?'  he  continued.  'Was  I  not 
absolutely  frank  with  you,  here,  in  this  very  room? 
I  came  to  you,  Alain,  as  to  the  only  person  who 
could  understand  me.  "Fifty  louis,"  I  said  to  you, 
"would  be  thrown  away;  but  a  hundred  I  will  repay 
you."  I  mentioned  no  time;  for  can  I  tell  on  what 
day  I  shall  have  ended  my  long  struggle  with 
poverty?  You  were  my  last  friend.  All  my 
friends,  even  our  old  employer  Bordin,  despised  me 
for  the  very  reason  that  I  borrowed  money  of  them. 
Ah!  Alain,  you  know  nothing  of  the  cruel  sensation 
that  tears  the  heart  of  an  honest  man  engaged  in  a 
hand-to-hand  struggle  with  misfortune,  when  he 
goes  to  a  friend  to  ask  for  help! — and  all  that 
follows!  I  trust  that  you  may  never  know  it:  it  is 
more  horrible  than  the  agony  of  death.  You  wrote 
me  letters  which,  coming  from  me  under  similar 
circumstances,  would  have  seemed  very  hateful  to 
you.  You  expected  me  to  do  things  that  were  not 
in  my  power.  You  are  the  only  one  to  whom  I 
have  undertaken  to  justify  myself.  Despite  the 
harsh  measures  you  have  taken,  and  although  you 
transformed  yourself  from  a  friend  to  a  creditor  on 
the  day  when  Bordin  demanded  of  me  a  note  for 
you,  thus  proving  false  to  the  spirit  of  the  sublime 
contract  we  made  in  this  room,  as  we  grasped  each 
other's  hands  and  mingled  our  tears, — I  remembered 
only  that  morning.  Because  of  that  hour  I  have 


136  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

come  to  say  to  you:  "You  know  nothing  of  misfor- 
tune, so  do  not  rail  at  it!"  I  have  not  had  an  hour 
or  a  second  to  write  to  you  and  answer  your 
letters!  Perhaps  you  would  have  liked  me  to  come 
and  wheedle  you? — You  might  as  well  ask  a  hare, 
tired  out  by  the  dogs  and  hunters,  to  stop  to  rest  in 
a  clearing  and  nibble  the  grass  there!  I  have  not 
had  a  bank-note  to  give  you,  not  one;  I  have  not 
had  enough  to  meet  the  demands  of  those  upon 
whom  my  fate  depended.  Being  a  novice  in  writing 
for  the  stage,  I  have  been  the  victim  of  musicians, 
actors,  singers  and  orchestra.  In  order  to  be  able 
to  go  out  and  buy  what  my  family  needed  across 
the  ocean,  I  sold  Les  Peruviens  to  the  manager,  with 
two  other  plays  that  I  had  in  my  desk.  I  am 
starting  for  Holland  without  a  sou.  I  shall  eat 
nothing  but  bread  until  I  reach  Flushing.  My 
journey  is  paid  for  and  that  is  all.  Except  for  the 
compassion  of  my  landlady,  who  has  confidence  in 
me,  I  should  have  had  to  travel  on  foot  with  my 
wallet  on  my  back.  And  so,  notwithstanding  your 
suspicions  concerning  me,  as  I  should  not  have  been 
able  to  send  my  wife  and  mother-in-law  to  New 
York  except  for  you,  my  gratitude  to  you  remains 
unimpaired.  No,  Monsieur  Alain,  I  shall  not  forget 
that  the  hundred  louis  you  lent  me  would  be 
bringing  you  in  fifteen  hundred  francs  a  year.' 

"  'I  would  like  to  believe  you,  Mongenod,'  I  said, 
almost  melted  by  the  tone  in  which  he  uttered  this 
explanation. 

"  'Ah!  you  no  longer  call  me  monsieur,'  he  said 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  137 

eagerly,  looking  into  my  face  with  a  moved  expres- 
sion, 'God  knows  that  I  should  leave  France  with 
less  regret  if  I  could  leave  behind  me  one  man  in 
whose  eyes  I  am  neither  half  a  knave  nor  a  spend- 
thrift nor  a  victim  of  illusions.  I  have  loved  an  angel 
in  the  midst  of  my  misery.  A  man  who  loves  truly, 
Alain,  is  never  wholly  contemptible.' 

"At  that  I  put  out  my  hand,  he  took  it  and 
pressed  it  warmly. 

"  'May  Heaven  protect  you!'  I  said. 

"  'We  are  still  friends?'  he  asked. 

"  'Yes,'  I  replied.  'It  shall  not  be  said  that  the 
companion  of  my  childhood  and  the  friend  of  my 
youth  set  out  for  America  under  the  weight  of  my 
anger.' 

"Mongenod  embraced  me,  with  tears  in  his  eyes, 
and  rushed  to  the  door.  When  I  met  Bordin  a  few 
days  later,  I  described  the  interview  from  beginning 
to  end,  and  he  said,  with  a  smile: 

"  'I  trust  that  it  wasn't  a  scene  out  of  a  comedy! 
He  didn't  ask  you  for  anything?' 

"  'No.' 

"  'He  came  to  me,  too,  and  I  was  almost  as  weak 
as  you;  he  asked  me  for  enough  to  feed  him  on  the 
journey.  However,  the  one  who  lives  will  see 
what  happens!' 

"That  remark  of  Bordin's  made  me  fear  that  I 
had  foolishly  yielded  to  a  compassionate  impulse. 

"  'But  even  he,  the  attorney,  did  as  I  did!'  I  said 
to  myself. 

"I  do  not  think  it  worth  while  to  explain  to  you 


138  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

how  I  lost  all  my  fortune,  except  my  other  hun- 
dred louis  which  I  invested  in  consols  at  such  a 
high  premium  that  I  had  barely  five  hundred  francs 
a  year  to  live  upon,  when  I  was  thirty-four  years 
old.  Through  Bordin's  influence  I  obtained  a  posi- 
tion at  a  salary  of  eight  hundred  francs  at  the  Rue 
des  Petits-Augustins  branch  of  the  Mont-de-Piete. 
I  lived  very  modestly.  I  had  lodgings  on  the  third 
floor  of  a  house  on  Rue  des  Marais — a  small  suite 
consisting  of  two  rooms  and  a  cabinet — for  two 
hundred  and  fifty  francs.  I  dined  at  a  bourgeois 
boarding-house  for  forty  francs  a  month.  I  did 
copying  in  the  evening.  Ugly  as  I  am  and  poor,  I 
had  to  abandon  all  thought  of  marriage — " 

As  poor  Alain  pronounced  that  sentence  upon 
himself  with  adorable  resignation,  Godefroid  made 
a  gesture  more  eloquent  than  any  words  could  have 
been  of  a  similarity  between  their  destinies,  and  the 
good  man,  in  reply  to  that  eloquent  gesture,  seemed 
to  await  some  remark  from  his  listener. 

"Have  you  never  been  loved?"  Godefroid 
asked. 

"Never!"  was  the  reply;  "except  by  Madame, 
who  returns  the  love  we  all  feel  for  her,  a  love  that 
I  may  call  divine.  You  have  had  an  opportunity  to 
realize  the  truth  of  what  I  say;  we  live  in  her  life  as 
she  lives  in  ours;  we  have  only  one  heart  between 
us;  and  although  not  physical,  our  pleasures  are  none 
the  less  keen,  for  we  exist  only  through  the  heart. 
What  would  you  have,  my  child?"  he  continued; 
"when  women  learn  to  appreciate  moral  qualities, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  139 

they  have  done  with  externals,  and  then  they  are 
old.  I  have  suffered  bitterly,  you  see!" 

"Ah!  I  know  what  it  means,"  said  Godefroid. 

"Under  the  Empire,"  the  good  man  continued, 
looking  down  again,  "interest  on  the  Funds  was  not 
paid  promptly,  and  one  had  to  provide  for  intervals 
of  non-payment.  There  was  not  a  week,  from 
1802  to  1814,  when  I  did  not  attribute  my  sorrows  to 
Mongenod. 

"  'Except  for  Mongenod/  I  would  say  to  myself, 
'I  might  have  married.  Except  for  him  I  should  not 
be  obliged  to  live  in  privation.' 

"But  sometimes  too  I  would  say  to  myself: 

"  'Perhaps  the  poor  fellow  is  having  hard  luck 
over  yonder!' 

"In  1806,  one  day  when  my  life  seemed  a  heavy 
burden,  I  wrote  him  a  long  letter  which  I  sent  by 
way  of  Holland.  I  received  no  reply,  and  I  waited 
three  years,  founding  upon  that  reply  hopes  that 
were  constantly  disappointed.  At  last  I  became 
resigned  to  my  life.  To  my  five  hundred  francs  a 
year  and  my  twelve  hundred  at  the  Mont-de-Piete, 
— for  my  salary  had  been  increased — I  added  five 
hundred  for  services  as  book-keeper  to  Monsieur 
Birotteau,  a  perfumer.  Thus,  not  only  was  I  able 
to  live,  but  I  laid  by  eight  hundred  francs  a  year. 
Early  in  1814,  I  invested  my  savings,  amounting  to 
nine  thousand  francs,  in  the  public  funds  at  forty, 
and  I  had  sixteen  hundred  francs  assured  for  my 
old  age.  Thus  I  had  fifteen  hundred  francs  from 
the  Mont-de-Piete,  six  hundred  for  my  book-keeping, 


140  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

sixteen  hundred  from  the  Funds,  in  all  three  thousand 
seven  hundred  francs.  I  hired  an  apartment  on  Rue 
de  Seine  and  lived  a  little  better.  My  place  brought 
me  in  contact  with  many  poor  wretches.  In  twelve 
years  I  had  become  better  acquainted  than  most  peo- 
ple with  the  public  misery.  Once  or  twice  I  helped 
some  poor  devil.  I  felt  the  keenest  pleasure  when 
one  or  two  of  the  ten  families  that  were  indebted  to 
me  succeeded  in  getting  out  of  difficulty.  It  occurred 
to  me  that  benevolence  does  not  consist  simply  in 
tossing  money  to  those  who  are  suffering.  What  is 
commonly  called  charity  seems  to  me  to  be  very 
often  a  sort  of  premium  placed  on  crime.  I  began 
to  study  the  question.  I  was  then  fifty  years  old 
and  my  life  was  almost  done. 

"  'What  am  I  good  for?'  I  asked  myself.  'To 
whom  shall  I  leave  my  fortune?  When  I  have 
furnished  my  apartment  handsomely,  when  I  have 
a  good  cook,  when  my  existence  is  reasonably  well 
assured,  how  shall  I  employ  my  time?' 

"Thus  eleven  years  of  revolution  and  fifteen 
years  of  poverty  had  consumed  the  pleasantest  part 
of  my  life,  had  worn  it  out  in  profitless  toil  or 
employed  it  simply  in  self-preservation!  At  that 
time  of  life  no  man  can  take  a  fresh  start  from  such 
an  obscure  destiny,  fettered  by  need,  toward  a 
brilliant  destiny;  but  one  can  always  make  one's  self 
useful.  I  realized  at  last  that  careful  oversight, 
with  abundance  of  good  advice,  increased  tenfold 
the  value  of  money  given,  for  the  unfortunate  need 
guidance  most  of  all;  when  you  teach  them  to  make 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  141 

the  most  of  the  work  they  do  for  others,  the  intelli- 
gence of  the  speculator  is  not  what  they  need.  Two 
or  three  satisfactory  results  that  I  obtained  made 
me  very  proud.  I  had  discovered  both  an  aim  and 
an  occupation,  to  say  nothing  of  the  exquisite 
enjoyment  afforded  by  the  pleasure  of  playing  the 
role  of  Providence  on  a  small  scale." 

"And  you  are  playing  it  to-day  on  a  large  scale, 
are  you  not?"  asked  Godefroid  earnestly. 

"Oh!  you  want  to  know  everything!"  said  the 
old  man;  "no,  no. — Would  you  believe  it?"  he 
continued  after  a  pause;  "the  slender  resources 
that  my  small  fortune  placed  at  my  disposal  carried 
my  mind  back  frequently  to  Mongenod. 

"  'Except  for  Mongenod,  I  should  have  been  able 
to  do  much  more,'  I  said.  'If  a  dishonest  man  had 
not  cheated  me  out  of  fifteen  hundred  francs  a  year,' 
I  often  thought,  'I  might  save  such  and  such  a 
family.' 

"And  so,  as  I  explained  my  powerlessness  by  an 
accusation,  those  to  whom  I  offered  no  consolation 
but  words  cursed  Mongenod  with  me.  Those 
maledictions  relieved  my  heart. 

"One  morning,  in  January,  1816,  my  housekeeper 
announced — whom?  Mongenod!  Monsieur  Monge- 
nod! And  whom  did  I  see  enter  my  room? — the 
same  lovely  woman,  then  about  thirty-six  years  old, 
and  with  her,  three  children;  then  Mongenod, 
younger  than  when  he  went  away,  for  wealth  and 
happiness  spread  a  halo  about  their  favorites.  When 
I  last  saw  him,  he  was  thin,  pale,  yellow,  bilious; 


142  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

he  returned  stout  and  ruddy  as  a  canon,  and  well 
dressed.  He  threw  himself  into  my  arms  and,  find- 
ing that  I  received  him  but  coldly,  his  first  words  were: 

"  'Could  I  have  come  any  sooner,  my  friend? 
The  sea  has  been  open  only  since  1815,  and  it  took 
me  eighteen  months  to  turn  my  property  into  cash, 
collect  what  was  owing  to  me  and  close  up  my 
business.  I  have  been  successful,  my  friend! 
When  I  received  your  letter,  in  1806,  I  was  starting 
on  a  Dutch  vessel  to  bring  you  a  small  fortune  with 
my  own  hands;  but  the  alliance  between  Holland 
and  the  French  Empire  led  to  my  being  taken  by  the 
English,  who  sent  me  to  Jamaica,  whence  I  escaped 
by  a  lucky  chance.  On  my  return  to  New  York,  I 
found  that  I  had  been  victimized  by  several  failures; 
for,  in  my  absence,  poor  Charlotte  had  not  been 
suspicious  enough  of  clever  schemers.  So  I  was 
compelled  to  recommence  the  building  of  my  fortune. 
However,  here  we  are  at  last.  By  the  way  in 
which  these  children  look  at  you,  you  should  divine 
that  we  have  often  spoken  to  them  of  the  family 
benefactor!' 

"  'Oh!  yes,  monsieur,'  said  pretty  Madame 
Mongenod,  'there  has  not  been  a  single  day  that  we 
haven't  thought  of  you.  Your  share  has  been 
calculated  in  all  our  undertakings.  We  have  all 
looked  forward  to  the  joy  we  feel  at  this  moment  in 
offering  you  your  fortune,  without  suggesting,  how- 
ever, that  this  tithe  of  the  Lord  will  ever  pay  our 
debt  of  gratitude.' 

"As  she  spoke  Madame  Mongenod   handed   me 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  143 

the  magnificent  casket  you  see  yonder,  in  which 
were  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand-franc  notes. 

"  'You  have  suffered  terribly,  I  know,  my  poor 
Alain;  but  we  divined  your  sufferings  and  we  wore 
ourselves  out  trying  to  devise  methods  of  sending 
you  the  money,  but  always  without  success,'  said 
Mongenod.  'You  told  me  that  you  weren't  able  to 
marry;  but  our  oldest  daughter  here  has  been 
brought  up  in  the  idea  of  becoming  your  wife,  and 
she  will  have  five  hundred  thousand  francs  for  her 
dowry — ' 

"  'God  forbid  that  I  should  make  her  unhappy!' 
I  cried  hastily,  as  I  turned  my  eyes  upon  a  girl  as 
lovely  as  her  mother  was  at  her  age. 

"I  drew  her  to  me  and  kissed  her  on  the  fore- 
head. 

"  'Don't  be  afraid,  my  beautiful  child,'  I  said  to 
her.  'A  man  of  fifty  marry  a  girl  of  seventeen — 
and  a  man  as  ugly  as  I  am! — never!'  I  cried. 

"  'Monsieur,'  she  replied,  'my  father's  benefactor 
will  never  be  ugly  in  my  eyes.' 

"Those  words,  uttered  spontaneously  and  with 
perfect  candor,  convinced  me  that  everything 
Mongenod  had  said  was  true;  so  I  offered  him  my 
hand  and  we  embraced  again. 

"  'My  friend,'  I  said  to  him,  'I  have  done  you 
wrong,  for  I  have  often  accused  you,  cursed  you — ' 

"  'As  you  should  have  done,'  he  replied,  blushing; 
'you  suffered,  and  through  me — ' 

"I  took  Mongenod's  papers  from  a  box  and  handed 
them  to  him,  thus  discharging  his  debt. 


144  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"  'You  must  all  breakfast  with  me/  I  said  to  the 
family. 

"  'On  condition  that  you  come  and  dine  with 
madame  as  soon  as  she  is  settled/  said  Mongenod, 
'for  we  arrived  only  yesterday.  We  are  going  to 
buy  a  house  and  I  propose  to  open  a  banking-house 
in  Paris  with  North  American  connections,  so  as  to 
leave  it  to  this  rascal/  he  said,  pointing  to  his  oldest 
son,  who  was  then  fifteen  years  old. 

"We  passed  the  rest  of  the  day  together  and 
went  to  the  play  in  the  evening,  for  Mongenod  and 
his  family  were  hungry  for  the  theatre.  The  next 
day  I  invested  the  money  in  the  public  funds,  and 
I  had  about  fifteen  thousand  francs  a  year  in  all. 
That  income  enabled  me  to  abandon  keeping  books 
in  the  evening  and  to  resign  my  position  at  the  Mont- 
de-Piete,  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  substitutes. 
After  founding  the  banking-house  of  Mongenod  et 
Compagnie,  which  made  enormous  profits  in  the 
first  loans  of  the  Restoration,  my  friend  died  in  1827, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-three.  His  daughter,  to  whom 
he  gave  later  a  dowry  of  more  than  a  million, 
married  the  Vicomte  de  Fontaine.  The  son,  whom 
you  know,  is  not  yet  married;  he  lives  with  his 
mother  and  his  young  brother.  We  obtain  from 
them  all  the  money  we  happen  to  need.  Frederic, 
for  his  father  gave  him  my  name  when  he  was  born 
in  America — Frederic  Mongenod,  at  thirty-seven, 
is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  upright  bankers  in 
Paris.  Not  long  ago  Madame  Mongenod  finally 
confessed  to  me  that  she  sold  her  hair  for  twelve 


THE  RETURN  OF  MONGENOD 


"One  morning,  in  January,  1816,  my  housekeeper 
announced — ivhoin  ?  Mongenod  !  Monsieur  Monge- 
nod !  And  zvhom  did  I  see  enter  my  room? — the 
same  lovely  woman,  then  about  thirty-six  years  old, 
and  with  her,  three  children" 


r  L»e  oueuf  — 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  145 

francs,  to  buy  bread.  She  gives  twenty-four  loads 
of  wood  every  year,  which  I  distribute  among 
the  poor,  to  pay  for  the  half  load  I  sent  her  long 
ago." 

"That  explains  your  relations  with  the  house  of 
Mongenod,"  said  Godefroid,  "and  your  fortune." 

The  good  man  looked  at  Godefroid,  still  smiling 
with  the  same  mildly  mischievous  expression. 

"Go  on,"  continued  Godefroid,  understanding 
from  Monsieur  Alain's  air  that  he  had  not  told 
everything. 

"That  conclusion,  my  dear  Godefroid,  made  a 
most  profound  impression  upon  me.  Although  the 
man  who  had  suffered  so  keenly,  although  my  friend 
forgave  the  injustice  I  had  done  him,  I  shall  never 
forgive  myself." 

"Oh!"  said  Godefroid. 

"I  determined  to  devote  the  whole  of  my  surplus 
income,  about  ten  thousand  francs  a  year,  to  acts 
of  charity,"  continued  Monsieur  Alain  tranquilly. 
"I  met,  about  that  time,  a  judge  of  the  tribunal  of 
the  Seine,  named  Popinot,  whom  we  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  lose  three  years  ago,  and  who  for  fifteen 
years  was  most  active  in  all  charitable  work  in  the 
Saint-Marcel  quarter.  He,  together  with  our  vener- 
able vicar  of  NStre-Dame  and  Madame,  conceived 
the  idea  of  starting  the  work  in  which  we  now 
co-operate,  and  which  has  done  some  little  good 
secretly  since  1825.  The  work  has  had  a  soul  in 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  for  she  has  been  in  very 
truth  the  soul  of  the  whole  enterprise.  The  vicar 

10 


146  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

has  succeeded  in  making  us  more  religious  than  we 
were  at  first,  by  proving  to  us  the  necessity  of  being 
virtuous  ourselves  in  order  to  be  able  to  inspire 
virtue,  in  order  to  preach  from  example.  The 
farther  we  have  advanced  on  that  path  the  happier 
we  have  all  found  ourselves.  Thus  it  was  my 
repentance  for  having  misunderstood  the  heart  of 
my  childhood's  friend  that  gave  me  the  idea  of 
devoting  to  the  poor,  on  my  own  account,  the  for- 
tune which  he  brought  back  to  me  and  which  I 
accepted  without  crying  out  at  the  vastness  of  the 
sum  returned  as  compared  with  the  sum  I  had 
lent:  its  destination  reconciled  everything." 

This  story,  told  without  emphasis  and  with  touch- 
ing simplicity  of  accent,  gesture  and  expression, 
would  have  aroused  in  Godefroid  the  desire  to  enter 
that  blessed,  noble  association,  if  he  had  not  already 
made  up  his  mind  to  do  so. 

"You  know  little  of  the  world,"  he  said,  "to  have 
such  scruples  concerning  a  matter  that  would  not 
trouble  anybody's  conscience." 

"I  know  none  but  the  unfortunate,"  the  good 
man  rejoined.  "I  have  no  desire  to  know  a  world 
where  people  are  so  ready  to  think  evil  of  one 
another. — It  is  almost  midnight,  and  I  have  rrjy 
chapter  of  the  Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ  to  meditate 
upon. — Good-night." 

Godefroid  grasped  the  good  man's  hand  and 
pressed  it  with  admiring  warmth. 

"Can  you  tell  me  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's 
story?"  he  asked. 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  147 

"That  is  impossible  without  her  consent,"  the 
good  man  replied,  "for  it  is  connected  with  one  of 
the  most  terrible  incidents  of  the  imperial  regime. 
It  was  through  my  friend  Bordin  that  I  came  to  know 
Madame;  he  knows  all  the  secrets  of  that  noble  life;  it 
was  he  who  brought  me  to  this  house,  so  to  speak." 

"However  that  may  be,"  rejoined  Godefroid,  "I 
thank  you  for  having  told  me  your  story;  it  contains 
some  useful  lessons  for  me." 

"Do  you  know  what  the  moral  of  it  is?" 

"Tell  me,"  said  Godefroid,  "for  I  might  see  in  it 
something  different  from  what  you  see." 

"Well,  it  is  this,"  said  the  good  man:  "pleasure 
is  an  accident  in  the  Christian's  life,  not  its  end, 
and  we  realize  that  too  late." 

"And  what  happens  when  one  becomes  a  Chris- 
tian?" queried  Godefroid. 

"Look!"  said  the  good  man. 

He  pointed  out  to  Godefroid  an  inscription  in  gilt 
letters  on  a  black  ground,  which  the  new  lodger  had 
never  seen,  as  that  was  the  first  time  he  had  been 
in  the  good  man's  room.  He  turned  and  read  the 
words:  TRANSIRE  BENEFACIENDO. 

"That,  my  child,  is  the  meaning  that  life  then 
takes  on.  That  is  our  motto.  If  you  become  one 
of  us,  that  will  be  the  whole  of  your  commission. 
We  read  that  advice,  which  we  give  to  one  another, 
every  hour  in  the  day,  when  we  rise,  when  we  go 
to  bed,  when  we  dress.  Ah!  if  you  knew  what 
boundless  pleasure  the  carrying  out  of  that  motto 
affords!" 


148  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

"What,  for  instance?"  said  Godefroid,  hoping  for 
revelations. 

"In  the  first  place,  we  are  as  rich  as  Baron  de 
Nucingen.  But  the  Imitation  of  Jesus  Christ  forbids 
our  having  anything  of  our  own,  we  are  only  dis- 
pensers, and  if  we  had  a  single  feeling  of  vainglory, 
we  should  not  be  worthy  to  be  dispensers.  That 
would  not  be  transire  benefaciendo,  it  would  be  to 
enjoy  by  thought.  If  you  should  say  to  yourself 
with  a  certain  dilation  of  the  nostrils:  'I  am  playing 
the  part  of  Providence!'  as  you  might  have  said  if 
you  had  been  in  my  place  this  morning  saving  the 
lives  of  a  whole  family,  you  would  be  a  Sardanapalus! 
a  wicked  man!  Not  one  of  these  gentlemen  thinks 
of  himself  when  he  does  a  good  deed;  one  must  strip 
himself  of  all  vanity,  all  pride,  all  self-love,  and  that 
is  a  difficult  task,  I  promise  you!" 


Godefroid  wished  Monsieur  Alain  good  night,  and 
returned  to  his  room  deeply  moved  by  his  story;  but 
his  curiosity  was  rather  excited  than  satisfied,  for  the 
great  figure  of  the  picture  presented  by  that  house- 
hold was  Madame  de  la  Chanterie.  The  story  of 
her  life  seemed  to  him  such  a  desirable  thing  to 
know,  that  he  made  it  the  object  of  his  sojourn  at 
the  H6tel  de  la  Chanterie.  He  already  divined  a 
charitable  undertaking  of  vast  scope  in  the  associa- 
tion of  those  five  persons,  but  he  thought  much  less 
of  it  than  of  its  heroine. 

The  neophyte  passed  several  days  watching  more 
closely  than  he  had  done  hitherto  the  choice  spirits 
among  whom  he  found  himself,  and  he  became  the 
subject  of  a  moral  phenomenon  which  modern 
philanthropists  have  disdained — from  ignorance 
perhaps.  The  sphere  in  which  he  was  living  had  a 
positive  effect  upon  Godefroid.  The  law  that 
governs  the  physical  nature  relative  to  the  influence 
of  atmospheric  surroundings  upon  the  conditions  of 
existence  of  developing  organisms,  governs  the 
moral  nature  as  well;  whence  it  follows  that  the 
congregating  of  condemned  men  is  one  of  the  great- 
est social  crimes,  and  their  isolation  an  experiment 
of  doubtful  success.  Condemned  men  should  be 
placed  in  religious  institutions  and  surrounded  by 
(149) 


150  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

prodigies  of  good,  instead  of  remaining  amid  miracles 
of  evil.  We  have  a  right  to  expect  absolute  devotion 
on  the  part  of  the  Church  in  that  direction;  if  it  sends 
missionaries  among  wild  or  uncivilized  peoples,  how 
joyfully  should  it  entrust  to  religious  orders  the  mis- 
sion of  receiving  the  wild  men  of  civilization  to  cate- 
chize them!  for  every  criminal  is  an  atheist,  often 
without  knowing  it.  Godefroid  found  those  five 
persons  endowed  with  the  qualities  which  they 
demanded  of  him;  they  were  all  without  pride,  with- 
out vanity,  truly  humble  and  devout,  with  none  of 
the  pretensions  that  go  to  make  up  devotion,  using 
that  word  in  its  bad  sense.  Their  virtues  were 
contagious;  he  was  seized  with  the  desire  to  imitate 
those  unknown  heroes,  and  he  ended  by  studying 
with  passionate  interest  the  book  that  he  had  begun 
by  despising.  In  a  fortnight  he  reduced  life  to  its 
simplest  form,  to  what  it  really  is  when  considered 
from  the  lofty  standpoint  to  which  the  religious 
spirit  leads  one.  Lastly,  his  curiosity,  which  was  at 
first  so  worldly  and  spurred  on  by  so  many  common- 
place motives,  became  purified;  if  he  did  not  entirely 
renounce  it,  it  was  because  It  was  difficult  to  lose 
his  interest  concerning  Madame  de  la  Chanterie; 
but  he  displayed,  involuntarily,  a  degree  of  discre- 
tion which  was  appreciated  by  those  men,  whose 
faculties  the  divine  Spirit  developed  to  a  most 
incredible  extent,  as  may  be  said  of  all  true  monks, 
by  the  way.  Concentration  of  the  moral  forces,  by 
whatever  system  it  is  brought  about,  increases  their 
scope  tenfold. 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  151 

"Our  friend  is  not  converted  yet,"  said  good 
Abbe  de  Veze;  "but  he  is  anxious  to  be." 

An  unexpected  incident  hastened  the  telling  of 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  story  to  Godefroid,  so 
that  his  curiosity  in  her  regard  was  speedily  gratified 
in  the  most  essential  point. 

All  Paris  was  at  that  time  deeply  interested  in  the 
conclusion,  at  Barriere  Saint- Jacques,  of  one  of  the 
ghastly  criminal  trials  which  mark  epochs  in  the 
annals  of  our  assize  courts.  The  extraordinary  inter- 
est aroused  in  the  trial  in  question  was  due  to  the 
criminals,  whose  audacity,  whose  mental  attain- 
ments, far  superior  to  those  of  ordinary  criminals, 
whose  cynical  replies  terrified  society.  It  is  a  fact 
worthy  of  note  that  no  newspaper  was  admitted  to 
the  Hotel  de  la  Chanterie,  and  Godefroid  only  heard 
of  the  dismissal  of  the  appeal  taken  by  the  accused, 
from  his  instructor  in  book-keeping,  for  the  trial  had 
taken  place  long  before  his  installation  at  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie's. 

"Do  you  ever  fall  in  with  such  people  as  those 
infernal  villains,"  he  asked  his  future  friends, 
"and,  if  you  do,  how  do  you  act  with  them?" 

"In  the  first  place,"  said  Monsieur  Nicolas, 
"there  are  no  infernal  villains,  there  are  diseased 
natures  which  should  be  confined  at  Charenton; 
but,  outside  of  those  infrequent  exceptions,  we  see 
only  men  devoid  of  religious  principles,  or  men  who 
reason  badly;  and  the  mission  of  the  charitable  man 
is  to  uplift  the  minds  of  his  fellows,  to  lead  back  into 
the  straight  road  those  who  have  gone  astray." 


152  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"And  everything  is  possible  to  the  apostle," 
added  Abbe  de  Veze,  "he  has  God  on  his  side." 

"Suppose  you  should  be  sent  to  those  two  con- 
victed felons,"  said  Godefroid,  "you  would  make 
nothing  out  of  them!" 

"The  time  would  be  too  short,"  observed  Good- 
man Alain. 

"As  a  general  rule,"  said  Monsieur  Nicolas, 
"souls  that  are  impenitent  to  the  end  are  turned 
over  to  the  ministrations  of  religion  when  the  time 
is  insufficient  to  perform  miracles.  The  persons  of 
whom  you  speak  would  have  become  men  of  the 
highest  distinction  in  our  hands,  for  their  energy  is 
most  extraordinary;  but  as  soon  as  they  have  com- 
mitted a  murder,  it  becomes  impossible  to  do  any- 
thing for  them,  human  justice  takes  possession  of 
them." 

"So  you  are  opposed  to  capital  punishment?" 
queried  Godefroid. 

Monsieur  Nicolas  hastily  rose  and  left  the  room. 

"Never  speak  of  capital  punishment  before  Mon- 
sieur Nicolas!  He  recognized  his  own  natural  child 
in  a  criminal,  whose  execution  his  duty  required  him 
to  superintend." 

"And  he  was  innocent!"  added  Monsieur  Joseph. 

At  that  moment,  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  who 
had  left  the  salon  for  a  few  moments,  returned. 

"But  you  must  admit,"  said  Godefroid  to  Mon- 
sieur Joseph,  "that  society  cannot  exist  without 
capital  punishment,  and  that  they  whose  heads  are 
to  be  cut  off  to-morrow  morning — " 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  153 

Godefroid  felt  a  strong  hand  placed  over  his 
mouth,  and  Abbe  de  Veze  led  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  pale  and  almost  fainting,  from  the  room. 

"What  have  you  done?"  exclaimed  Monsieur 
Joseph. — "Take  him  away,  Alain!"  he  added, 
removing  the  hand  with  which  he  had  gagged  Gode- 
froid. And  he  followed  Abbe  de  Veze  to  Madame's 
apartment. 

"Come,"  said  Monsieur  Alain  to  Godefroid;  "you 
have  forced  me  to  confide  the  secrets  of  Madame's 
life  to  you." 

In  a  few  moments  the  two  friends  were  sitting 
together  in  Alain's  room,  as  on  the  evening  when 
the  old  man  told  the  young  man  his  own  story. 

"Well?"  said  Godefroid,  whose  face  bore  witness 
to  his  despair  at  having  been  the  cause  of  what,  in 
that  pious  household,  might  be  called  a  catastrophe. 

"I  expect  that  Manon  is  coming  to  set  our  minds 
at  rest,"  replied  the  good  man,  listening  to  the  ser- 
vant's footsteps  on  the  stairs. 

"Madame  is  doing  well,  monsieur.  Monsieur 
1'Abbe  has  deceived  her  as  to  what  was  said!"  said 
Manon,  with  an  almost  angry  glance  at  Godefroid. 

11  Great  heaven!"  cried  the  poor  fellow,  his  eyes 
filling  with  tears. 

"Come,  take  a  seat,"  said  Monsieur  Alain,  setting 
the  example. 

He  paused  a  moment  to  collect  his  thoughts. 

"I  do  not  know,"  began  the  good  old  man,  "if  I 
have  the  necessary  talent  to  describe  worthily  a  life 
so  cruelly  afflicted;  you  will  forgive  me  if  you  find 


154  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

the  words  of  so  feeble  an  orator  ill-adapted  to  the 
acts  and  disasters  with  which  that  life  is  filled. 
Remember  that  I  left  school  many  years  ago,  and 
that  I  am  the  child  of  an  age  when  much  more  at- 
tention was  paid  to  the  thought  than  to  its  effect — a 
prosaic  age  in  which  people  knew  no  other  way  than 
to  call  things  by  their  names." 

Godefroid  made  a  gesture  of  assent,  in  which 
Alain  could  detect  sincere  admiration,  and  which 
seemed  to  say:  "I  am  listening." 

"As  you  have  just  seen,  my  young  friend,"  con- 
tinued the  old  man,  "it  was  impossible  for  you  to 
remain  longer  among  us  without  being  made  ac- 
quainted with  some  of  the  ghastly  singularities  of 
that  saintlike  woman's  life.  There  are  certain 
ideas,  allusions,  distressing  words,  which  are  abso- 
lutely forbidden  in  this  house,  under  pain  of  reopen- 
ing wounds  in  Madame's  heart,  the  pain  of  which, 
once  or  twice  renewed,  might  kill  her." 

"O  my  God!"  cried  Godefroid  "what  have  I 
done?" 

"Except  for  Monsieur  Joseph,  who  cut  you  short, 
foreseeing  that  you  were  on  the  point  of  mentioning 
the  fatal  instrument  of  death,  you  would  have  dealt 
poor  Madame  a  crushing  blow. — It  is  time  that  you 
should  know  everything,  for  you  will  belong  to  us, 
we  are  all  convinced  of  it  to-day. 

"Madame  de  la  Chanterie,"  he  continued  after  a 
pause,  "belongs  to  one  of  the  first  families  of  Basse 
Normandie.  She  was  Mademoiselle  Barbe-Philiberte 
de  Champignelles,  of  a  younger  branch  of  that 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  155 

family.  So  she  was  destined  to  take  the  veil,  un- 
less a  marriage  could  be  arranged  for  her  with 
renunciation  of  her  inheritance,  according  to  the 
common  practice  in  poor  families.  A  certain  Sieur 
de  la  Chanterie,  whose  family  had  fallen  into  the 
deepest  obscurity,  although  it  dates  from  the  cru- 
sade of  Philippe-Auguste,  was  anxious  to  recover 
the  position  in  the  province  of  Normandie  which  his 
ancient  birth  merited.  He  had  lost  caste  in  two 
ways,  for  he  had  amassed  some  three  hundred 
thousand  crowns  in  army  contracts  at  the  time  of 
the  war  with  Hanover.  Relying  overmuch  upon 
that  hoard,  which  provincial  gossip  exaggerated, 
the  son  at  Paris  led  a  life  calculated  to  arouse  a 
father's  anxiety.  Mademoiselle  de  Champignelles' 
qualities  obtained  some  celebrity  in  Le  Bessin.  The 
old  man,  whose  little  fief  of  La  Chanterie  lies  be- 
tween Caen  and  Saint-L6,  heard  people  say  that 
it  seemed  a  pity  that  such  an  accomplished  young 
woman,  so  capable  of  making  a  man  happy,  should 
end  her  days  in  a  convent;  and,  when  he  expressed 
the  purpose  of  looking  up  the  young  woman,  he  was 
led  to  believe  that  he  might  obtain  Mademoiselle 
Philiberte's  hand  for  his  son,  provided  that  he  would 
take  her  without  any  dowry.  He  went  to  Bayeux, 
procured  several  interviews  with  the  Champignelles 
family  and  was  fascinated  by  the  young  woman's 
eminent  qualities.  At  sixteen  years  Mademoiselle 
de  Champignelles  gave  promise  of  all  that  she  was 
one  day  to  be.  One  could  see  that  her  character 
would  be  marked  by  steadfast  piety,  never-failing 


1 56  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

good  sense,  Inflexible  probity,  and  that  she  had  one 
of  those  hearts  which  never  abandon  an  affection, 
even  though  they  are  commanded  to  do  so.  The. 
old  nobleman,  enriched  by  his  exactions  from  the 
troops,  saw  in  that  charming  creature  the  woman 
who  could  hold  his  son  in  check  by  the  authority  of 
virtue,  by  the  ascendency  of  a  firm  but  in  no  sense 
rigid  character:  for,  as  you  have  seen,  no  one  can 
be  more  gentle  than  Madame  de  la  Chanterie;  nor 
can  anyone  be  more  trustful  than  she;  even  in  her 
declining  years  she  has  the  unsuspecting  nature  of 
perfect  innocence.  In  the  old  days  she  would  never 
believe  in  evil;  the  slight  tendency  to  distrust,  which 
you  have  seen,  is  attributable  to  her  misfortunes. 
The  old  man  agreed  with  the  Champignelles  to 
renounce,  in  the  marriage  contract,  all  claim  to 
Mademoiselle  Philiberte's  inheritance;  but,  by  way 
of  compensation,  the  Champignelles,  who  were 
allied  to  some  great  families,  promised  to  obtain  the 
elevation  of  the  fief  of  La  Chanterie  to  a  barony, 
and  they  kept  their  word.  Madame  de  Bolsfrelon, 
aunt  of  the  future  bridegroom  and  wife  of  the 
counselor  of  parliament  who  died  in  the  apartment 
you  now  occupy,  promised  to  bequeath  her  fortune 
to  her  nephew.  When  all  these  arrangements  had 
been  made  between  the  two  families,  the  father  sent 
for  his  son.  The  young  man,  who  was  Master  of 
Requests  at  the  Grand  Council,  and  was  twenty- 
five  years  old  at  the  time  of  his  marriage,  had 
indulged  in  some  escapades  with  the  young  noble- 
men of  the  day  and  had  adopted  their  mode  of  life; 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  157 

so  it  happened  that  the  old  contractor  had  paid 
debts  to  a  considerable  amount  several  times  over. 
The  poor  man,  having  a  prevision  of  fresh  back- 
slidings  on  his  son's  part,  was  overjoyed  to  settle  a 
certain  amount  upon  his  future  daughter-in-law;  but 
he  was  so  suspicious  that  he  entailed  the  fief  of  La 
Chanterie  upon  the  male  children  to  be  born  of  the 
marriage. 

"The  Revolution,"  observed  Alain  parentheti- 
cally, "made  that  precaution  unavailing. 

"The  young  master  of  requests,  being  endowed 
with  the  beauty  of  an  angel,  and  with  wonderful  dex- 
terity in  all  forms  of  bodily  exercise,  possessed  the 
gift  of  seduction.  You  will  readily  believe  therefore 
that  Mademoiselle  de  Champignelles  fell  very  deeply 
in  love  with  her  husband.  The  old  man,  being 
extremely  pleased  with  the  auspicious  beginning  of 
their  married  life,  and  believing  that  his  son  had 
reformed,  himself  sent  the  newly-wedded  pair  to 
Paris.  This  happened  early  in  1788.  There  was 
almost  a  year  of  happiness.  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
enjoyed  all  the  little  delicate  attentions  that  a  man 
overflowing  with  love  can  lavish  upon  a  woman 
whom  he  loves.  Short  as  it  was,  the  honeymoon 
left  its  mark  on  that  noble  and  unfortunate  woman's 
heart.  In  those  days,  you  know,  mothers  used  to 
nurse  their  children  themselves,  and  Madame  had  a 
daughter.  That  period,  during  which  a  wife  should 
be  the  object  of  redoubled  tenderness,  was  on  the 
contrary  the  beginning  of  shocking  misery.  The 
master  of  requests  was  compelled  to  sell  ail  the 


158  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

property  he  could  dispose  of,  to  pay  old  debts  that  he 
had  not  confessed,  and  new  gambling  debts.  Then 
the  National  Assembly  soon  decreed  the  dissolution 
of  the  Grand  Council  and  the  Parliament,  and  the 
abolition  of  all  the  judicial  offices,  which  had  been 
bought  at  so  high  a  price.  The  young  household, 
increased  by  a  daughter,  was  thus  left  without  other 
resources  than  the  income  of  the  entailed  property 
and  the  dowry  settled  upon  Madame  de  la  Chanterie. 
In  twenty  months  from  her  marriage  that  lovely 
woman,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  and  a  half,  was 
reduced  to  the  necessity  of  working  with  her  hands, 
in  the  obscure  quarter  to  which  she  withdrew,  in 
order  to  support  herself  and  the  child  she  was  nurs- 
ing. She  was  entirely  deserted  by  her  husband, 
who  fell,  step  by  step,  into  the  society  of  creatures 
of  the  lowest  order.  Madame  never  reproached  her 
husband,  she  never  claimed  to  have  been  wronged 
in  any  way.  She  has  told  us  that,  during  those  evil 
days,  she  prayed  to  God  for  her  dear  Henri — 

"The  villain's  name  was  Henri,"  observed  Mon- 
sieur Alain;  "it  is  a  name  never  to'be  uttered  before 
her,  and  so  is  Henriette.  I  resume. 

"Never  leaving  her  little  room  on  Rue  de  la 
Corderie-du-Temple,  except  to  go  out  for  provisions 
or  for  her  work,  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  succeeded 
in  making  both  ends  meet,  thanks  to  a  hundred 
francs  per  month,  which  her  father-in-law,  deeply 
touched  by  her  courage,  sent  to  her.  Nevertheless, 
realizing  that  that  source  of  supply  might  fail  her, 
the  poor  young  wife  had  adopted  the  laborious  trade 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  159 

of  stay-maker,  and  worked  for  a  famous  dress- 
maker. In  due  time  the  old  contractor  died,  and 
his  inheritance  was  devoured  by  his  son,  by  favor 
of  the  laws  overthrowing  the  monarchy.  The 
former  master  of  requests,  having  become  one  of 
the  most  bloodthirsty  presidents  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary Tribunal,  was  the  terror  of  all  Normandie 
and  was  enabled  to  gratify  all  his  evil  passions. 
Imprisoned  in  his  turn  at  the  time  of  the  fall  of 
Robespierre,  the  universal  execration  of  his  depart- 
ment marked  him  out  for  certain  death.  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie  learned  by  a  farewell  letter  the  fate 
that  awaited  her  husband.  Having  placed  her 
little  daughter  in  charge  of  a  neighbor,  she  betook 
herself  immediately  to  the  town  where  the  wretch 
was  confined,  armed  with  a  few  louis  which  com- 
prised her  whole  fortune;  those  louis  enabled  her  to 
gain  access  to  him  in  prison.  She  succeeded  in 
rescuing  her  husband  by  dressing  him  in  her  clothes, 
a  method  almost  identical  with  that  which  served 
Madame  de  la  Valette  so  well  at  a  later  period. 
She  was  sentenced  to  death,  but  a  feeling  of  shame 
prevented  them  from  taking  their  revenge  in  that 
way,  and  the  tribunal  formerly  presided  over  by 
her  husband  secretly  facilitated  her  release  from 
prison.  She  returned  to  Paris  on  foot,  penniless, 
sleeping  in  farmhouses  and  often  fed  by  charity." 

"My  God!"  cried  Godefroid. 

"Wait!"  continued  the  good  man,  "that  is  noth- 
ing. In  eight  years  the  poor  woman  saw  her 
husband  three  times.  The  first  time  monsieur 


160  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

remained  twice  twenty-four  hours  in  his  wife's 
modest  lodging  and  took  all  her  money,  over- 
whelming her  with  tokens  of  affection  and  making 
her  believe  in  his  complete  conversion. 

"  'I  was  powerless/  she  said,  'against  a  man  for 
whom  I  prayed  every  day  and  who  filled  my  mind 
to  the  exclusion  of  everything  else.' 

''The  second  time  Monsieur  de  la  Chanterie 
appeared  in  a  dying  condition,  and  with  such  a 
disease! — She  nursed  him  and  saved  his  life;  then 
she  tried  to  lead  him  back  to  decent  sentiments  and 
a  decent  mode  of  life.  After  promising  everything 
that  that  angel  asked  of  him,  the  revolutionist 
plunged  once  more  into  horrible  excesses,  and 
escaped  the  inquisition  of  the  police  authorities  only 
by  taking  refuge  with  his  wife,  where  he  died  in 
safety — 

"Oh!  that  is  nothing,"  cried  the  good  man, 
remarking  the  amazement  depicted  on  Godefroid's 
face.  "No  one  in  the  circle  in  which  the  man  lived 
knew  that  he  was  married.  Two  years  after  the 
vile  creature's  death,  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
learned  that  there  existed  a  second  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  a  widow  like  herself,  and  like  herself 
destitute.  The  bigamist  had  found  two  angels 
incapable  of  betraying  him. 

"About  1803,"  continued  Monsieur  Alain  after  a 
pause,  "Monsieur  de  Boisfrelon,  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie's  uncle,  having  been  struck  off  the  list  of 
'emigr'es,  came  to  Paris  and  delivered  to  her  two 
hundred  thousand  francs  which  the  old  contractor 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  161 

had  placed  in  his  hands  long  before,  with  instructions 
to  keep  it  for  his  niece's  children.  He  persuaded 
the  widow  to  return  to  Normandie,  where  she 
finished  her  daughter's  education,  and,  still  acting 
on  the  former  magistrate's  advice,  purchased  a 
patrimonial  estate  on  excellent  terms." 

"Ah!"  cried  Godefroid. 

"That  is  nothing,"  said  Goodman  Alain,  "we 
haven't  arrived  at  the  hurricanes  yet.  I  resume. 
In  1807,  after  four  years  of  repose,  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  married  her  only  daughter  to  a  gentleman, 
whose  antecedents,  religious  principles  and  wealth 
afforded  guaranties  of  every  sort;  a  man  who,  as 
the  popular  saying  went,  was  the  darling  of  the  best 
society  of  the  chief  town  in  the  prefecture  where 
Madame  and  her  daughter  passed  the  winter. 
Observe  that  that  society  consisted  of  seven  or 
eight  families  numbered  among  the  exalted  nobility 
of  France,  the  D'Esgrignons,  the  Troisvilles,  the 
Casterans,  the  Nouatres,  etc.  After  eighteen 
months,  that  man  left  his  wife  and  disappeared  in 
Paris,  where  he  changed  his  name.  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  was  unable  to  learn  the  causes  of  that 
separation  except  by  the  bright  glare  of  the  lightning, 
in  the  midst  of  the  tempest.  Her  daughter,  who 
had  been  educated  with  the  most  painstaking  care 
in  the  purest  religious  sentiments,  maintained  abso- 
lute silence  concerning  that  event.  Her  lack  of 
confidence  made  a  deep  impression  upon  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie.  On  several  previous  occasions 
she  had  noticed  in  her  daughter  some  traces  of  the 


162  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

father's  adventurous  character,  but  emphasized  by 
almost  masculine  decision.  Her  husband  went 
away  with  her  full  permission,  leaving  his  affairs  in 
pitiable  shape.  To  this  day  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
has  not  recovered  from  her  surprise  at  that  catastro- 
phe, which  no  human  power  could  have  remedied. 
The  people  whom  she  prudently  consulted  had  all 
said  that  the  young  man's  fortune  was  unencumbered 
and  definitely  fixed,  invested  in  unmortgaged  real 
estate;  whereas  the  property  had  been,  for  ten 
years,  pledged  for  more  than  its  value.  So  the 
real  estate  was  sold,  and  the  unfortunate  bride, 
reduced  to  her  own  resources,  returned  to  her 
mother.  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  learned  later  that 
the  man  had  been  upheld  by  the  most  respectable 
men  in  the  province,  in  the  interest  of  their  own 
claims  against  him;  for  the  scoundrel  owed  them  all 
more  or  less.  So  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  had  been 
looked  upon  as  a  suitable  victim  from  her  first  arrival 
in  the  province.  However,  there  were  other  moving 
causes  of  that  disaster,  which  will  be  made  clear  to 
you  by  a  confidential  document  which  was  laid 
before  the  Emperor.  The  fellow  had,  moreover, 
won  the  good-will  of  the  royalist  leaders  in  the 
department  by  his  devotion  to  the  royal  cause  during 
the  tempestuous  days  of  the  Revolution.  One  of  the 
most  active  emissaries  of  Louis  XVIII.,  he  had  had 
a  hand  in  all  the  conspiracies  since  1793,  extricating 
himself  so  cunningly,  with  such  adroitness,  that  he 
eventually  aroused  the  suspicion  of  his  co-workers. 
Having  been  removed  by  Louis  XVIII.  from  his  offices, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  163 

and  not  being  consulted  in  any  subsequent  affairs, 
he  returned  to  his  estates,  which  had  even  then 
been  impaired  for  a  long  while.  These  antecedents, 
then  little  known — for  those  who  were  admitted  to 
the  secrets  of  the  royal  closet  held  their  peace  con- 
cerning such  a  dangerous  co-worker — made  him 
the  object  of  a  sort  of  cult  in  a  town  devoted  to  the 
Bourbons,  where  the  most  barbarous  methods 
adopted  by  the  Chouans  were  looked  upon  as  honor- 
able warfare.  The  D'Esgrignons,  the  Casterans, 
the  Chevalier  de  Valois,  in  a  word,  the  aristocracy 
and  the  church  opened  their  arms  to  the  royalist 
diplomat  and  took  him  in  their  lap.  Their  inclination 
to  patronize  him  was  confirmed  by  the  anxiety  of 
his  creditors  to  be  paid.  The  miserable  wretch,  a 
fitting  successor  to  the  late  De  la  Chanterie,  suc- 
ceeded in  holding  himself  in  check  for  three  years, 
he  affected  the  most  profound  piety  and  imposed 
silence  on  his  vices.  During  the  first  months  that 
he  and  his  young  wife  lived  together,  he  exerted 
some  influence  over  her;  he  tried  to  corrupt  her  with 
his  doctrines — if  atheism  can  be  called  a  doctrine — 
and  by  the  jesting  tone  in  which  he  spoke  of  the 
most  sacred  things.  This  backstairs  diplomatist,  on 
his  return  to  the  province,  formed  a  close  intimacy 
with  a  young  man  who  was  swallowed  up  in  debt 
like  himself,  but  whose  frankness  and  courage 
were  as  noteworthy  as  the  other's  hypocrisy  and 
cowardice.  This  guest,  whose  charming  manners, 
whose  genial  nature  and  adventurous  life  were  well 
adapted  to  influence  a  young  woman,  was  like  a 


164  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

tool  in  the  husband's  hands,  and  he  used  him  to 
support  his  abominable  theories.  The  girl  never  let 
her  mother  suspect  the  pit  into  which  chance  had 
thrown  her,  for  mere  human  forethought  seems 
nothing  at  all  when  we  think  of  the  minute  precau- 
tions taken  by  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  in  arranging 
for  the  marriage  of  her  only  daughter.  This  last 
blow,  in  a  life  so  pure,  so  devout,  so  religious  as 
that  of  a  woman  afflicted  by  such  a  succession  of 
misfortunes,  aroused  in  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  a 
distrust  of  herself,  which  kept  her  the  more  aloof 
from  her  daughter,  because  the  latter,  in  exchange 
for  her  evil  fortune,  demanded  almost  absolute 
freedom,  domineered  over  her  mother  and  even 
spoke  harshly  to  her  sometimes.  Wounded  thus  in 
all  her  affections,  betrayed  in  her  devoted  love  for 
her  husband,  to  whom  she  had  sacrificed  her  happi- 
ness, her  fortune  and  her  life,  without  a  murmur; 
deceived  in  the  exclusively  religious  education  she 
had  given  her  daughter,  deceived  by  society  itself 
in  the  affair  of  the  marriage,  and  failing  to  obtain 
justice  in  the  heart  in  which  she  had  sown  none  but 
worthy  sentiments,  she  clung  more  closely  to  God, 
whose  hand  was  so  heavy  upon  her.  The  quasi- 
nun  went  to  church  every  morning,  she  inflicted  the 
harshest  monastic  penances  upon  herself  and  saved 
money  in  order  to  assist  the  poor. 

"Can  you  imagine  a  more  saintlike,  more  griev- 
ously afflicted  life  than  that  noble  woman's  thus  far, 
so  patient  in  misfortune,  so  brave  in  danger,  and 
always  so  Christlike?"  said  the  good  man,  glancing 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  165 

at  the  marveling  Godefroid.  "You  know  Madame, 
you  know  whether  she  lacks  good  sense,  sound 
judgment,  reflection;  she  has  all  those  qualities  in 
the  highest  degree.  Very  good;  those  misfortunes, 
which  would  be  sufficient  to  lead  one  to  say  of  a 
life  that  it  surpasses  all  others  in  hardship,  are  as 
nothing  compared  to  what  God  had  in  store  for  that 
woman. — Let  us  now  devote  our  attention  exclu- 
sively to  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  daughter,"  said 
the  good  man,  resuming  his  narrative. 

"At  eighteen,  Mademoiselle  de  la  Chanterie's  age 
when  she  was  married,  she  was  a  girl  of  exceedingly 
delicate  complexion,  dark,  with  brilliant  coloring, 
slender  and  sweetly  pretty.  Above  a  brow  of  noble 
outline  grew  a  profusion  of  lovely  black  hair,  in 
harmony  with  her  sparkling,  brown  eyes.  Her 
somewhat  delicate  features  were  misleading  as  to 
her  real  character  and  her  masculine  firmness.  She 
had  small  hands,  small  feet,  and  a  suggestion  of 
fragility  in  her  whole  person  that  excluded  any  idea 
of  strength  or  vivacity.  Having  always  lived  with 
her  mother,  she  was  as  innocent  as  a  child  in  the 
matter  of  morals  and  remarkably  devout.  Like 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  she  was  a  fanatical  partisan 
of  the  Bourbons,  an  enemy  of  the  French  Revolution, 
and  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  Napoleon  only 
as  a  scourge  that  Providence  inflicted  upon  France 
in  punishment  for  the  crimes  of  1793.  The  harmony 
in  the  matter  of  political  opinions  between  the 
mother-in-law  and  son-in-law  was,  as  it  always  is 
under  such  circumstances,  a  decisive  argument  in 


166  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

favor  of  the  marriage,  which,  moreover,  all  the 
aristocracy  of  the  province  were  interested  in  bring- 
ing about.  The  wretch's  chosen  friend  had  com- 
manded a  party  of  Chouans  in  the  uprising  of  1799. 
It  seems  that  the  baron — Madame  de  la  Chanterie's 
son-in-law  was  a  baron — had  no  other  purpose  in 
encouraging  an  attachment  between  his  wife  and 
his  friend,  than  to  avail  himself  of  it  to  demand 
assistance  and  succor  from  them.  Although  over- 
whelmed with  debts  and  without  apparent  means  of 
existence,  the  young  adventurer  lived  very  well, 
and  could  easily  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the  organizer 
of  royalist  conspiracies. 

"I  must  say  a  few  words  here  concerning  an 
association  that  was  causing  a  great  deal  of  excite- 
ment at  that  time,"  said  Monsieur  Alain,  interrupting 
his  narrative.  "I  refer  to  the  burners.  Every 
province  in  the  West  was  more  or  less  afflicted  by 
those  marauders,  whose  object  was  not  so  much 
plunder  as  a  renewal  of  the  royalist  war.  They 
made  the  most,  it  was  said,  of  the  great  number  of 
persons  dissatisfied  with  the  law  relating  to  con- 
scription, which  was  executed  then,  as  you  know, 
with  a  harshness  that  amounted  to  an  abuse. 
Between  Mortagne  and  Rennes,  and  even  beyond, 
as  far  as  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  there  were 
nocturnal  depredations  which,  in  that  part  of  Nor- 
mandie,  bore  most  heavily  on  those  who  were  in 
possession  of  estates  bought  of  the  nation.  Those 
bands  caused  profound  alarm  throughout  the  country 
districts.  I  shall  not  put  the  fact  too  strongly  if  I 


MADAME   DE   LA  CHANTERIE  167 

say  that,  in  certain  departments,  the  action  of  the 
authorities  was  long  paralyzed.  These  last  echoes 
of  the  civil  war  did  not  make  so  much  noise  as  you 
might  think,  accustomed  as  we  are  to-day  to  the 
horrible  publicity  given  by  the  press  to  the  most 
trifling  political  or  private  trials.  The  system  fol- 
lowed by  the  imperial  government  was  that  of  all 
absolute  governments.  The  censorship  permitted 
the  publication  of  nothing  on  political  subjects, 
except  accomplished  facts,  and  even  those  were 
travestied.  If  you  would  take  the  trouble  to  run 
over  the  files  of  the  Moniteur  and  the  other  news- 
papers then  in  existence,  even  those  of  the  West, 
you  would  not  find  a  word  of  four  or  five  criminal 
trials  which  cost  sixty  or  eighty  brigands  their  lives. 
That  name  of  brigands,  given  during  the  Revolu- 
tionary epoch  to  the  Vendeans,  the  Chouans  and  all 
those  who  took  up  arms  for  the  Bourbons,  was 
retained  judicially  under  the  Empire  for  the  royalist 
victims  of  isolated  conspiracies.  In  the  eyes  of 
some  passionate  royalists,  the  Emperor  and  his 
government  were  the  enemy,  everything  that  could 
be  taken  from  him  seemed  to  be  lawful  prize.  I 
explain  these  opinions  to  you  without  undertaking 
to  justify  them,  and  I  resume. 

"Now,"  he  said,  after  one  of  the  pauses  necessary 
in  long  narratives,  "given  these  royalists  ruined  by 
the  civil  war  of  1793  and  swayed  by  violent  passions; 
given  some  exceptional  characters  consumed  by 
poverty,  like  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  son-in-law 
and  his  friend  the  former  Chouan  leader,  you  can 


168  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

understand  how  they  could  make  up  their  minds 
to  commit,  in  their  own  private  interest,  acts  of 
brigandage,  which  their  political  opinions  justified, 
against  the  imperial  government,  to  the  profit  of  the 
good  cause.  The  young  Chouan  therefore  turned 
his  attention  to  rekindling  the  embers  of  Chouan- 
nerie,  in  order  to  be  ready  to  act  at  the  opportune 
moment.  About  that  time  the  Emperor  was  in  a 
terribly  critical  position,  being  shut  up  in  the  island 
of  Lobau  and  apparently  on  the  point  of  going  down 
before  the  simultaneous  attack  of  England  and 
Austria.  The  victory  of  Wagram  rendered  the  con- 
spiracy that  had  been  set  on  foot  in  the  interior 
practically  harmless.  The  hope  of  rekindling  civil 
war  in  Bretagne,  Vendee  and  a  part  of  Normandie 
coincided  by  a  fatal  chance  with  the  upsetting  of  the 
baron's  affairs;  he  flattered  himself  with  the  prospect 
of  organizing  an  expedition,  the  profits  of  which 
would  be  applied  exclusively  to  saving  his  own 
estates.  With  great  nobility  of  feeling,  his  wife 
and  his  friend  refused  to  divert  for  any  private 
purposes  the  sums  taken  by  force  and  arms  from 
the  coffers  of  the  State  and  intended  for  the  pay  of 
the  discontented  spirits  and  the  Chouans,  and  for 
procuring  arms  and  ammunition  in  anticipation  of  an 
uprising.  When,  after  several  acrimonious  disputes, 
the  young  Chouan,  supported  by  the  wife,  had 
positively  refused  to  reserve  for  the  husband  a 
hundred  thousand  francs  in  crowns,  which  sum  they 
were  expecting  to  take  from  the  funds  in  the  hands 
of  one  of  the  receivers-general  in  the  West,  for  the 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  169 

benefit  of  the  royal  army,  the  baron  disappeared  to 
avoid  the  hot  pursuit  of  several  warrants  for  his 
arrest.  The  creditors  attempted  to  levy  on  the 
wife's  property,  and  the  miserable  wretch  had 
dried  up  the  spring  of  the  sentiment  that  impels  a 
wife  to  sacrifice  herself  for  her  husband.  That  is 
what  poor  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  knew  nothing 
about,  but  it  is  nothing  to  the  plot  concealed  behind 
this  preliminary  explanation. 

"It  is  too  late  to-night,"  said  the  good  man  after 
glancing  at  his  little  clock,  "it  would  take  too  long  if 
I  should  undertake  to  tell  you  the  rest  of  the  story. 
My  friend,  old  Bordin,  who  became  illustrious  in  the 
annals  of  the  royalist  party  through  his  conduct  of 
the  famous  Simeuse  trial,  and  who  defended  the  so- 
called  burners  of  Mortagne,  lent  me,  at  the  time  I 
came  here  to  live,  two  documents  which  I  have  kept, 
for  he  died  shortly  after.  You  will  find  the  facts  much 
more  concisely  stated  in  them  than  I  could  tell  them 
to  you.  They  are  so  numerous  that  I  should  lose  my- 
self in  the  details,  and  it  would  take  me  more  than  two 
hours;  whereas,  in  those  papers  you  will  have  them 
all  summarized.  To-morrow  morning  I  will  tell  you  the 
rest  of  the  story  so  far  as  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  is 
concerned, for  you  will  be  so  well  informed  by  what 
you  will  have  read  that  I  shall  be  able  to  finish  in  a 
few  words."  The  good  man  handed  several  papers 
yellowed  by  lapse  of  time  to  Godefroid,  who,  after 
wishing  his  neighbor  good-night,  withdrew  to  his 
own  room,  where,  before  retiring,  he  read  the  two 
documents  which  follow: 


"INDICTMENT 

"Special  Criminal  Court  for  the  Department  of  the 
Orne 

"The  procureur-general  of  the  Imperial  Court  at 
Caen,  being  instructed  to  appear  in  his  official 
capacity  at  the  special  criminal  court  created  by 
imperial  decree  under  date  of  September,  1809,  and 
sitting  at  Alencon,  presents  to  the  court  the  following 
facts  which  appear  from  the  preliminary  procedure: 

"A  conspiracy  of  brigands,  conceived  with  much 
deliberation  and  of  extraordinary  extent,  which  is 
connected  with  a  scheme  for  an  uprising  throughout 
the  departments  of  the  West,  made  itself  manifest 
in  divers  assaults  upon  citizens  and  depredations 
upon  their  property,  but  notably  by  the  attack  with 
force  and  arms  upon  a  vehicle  engaged  in  trans- 
porting funds  from  the  receiver-general  at  Caen,  for 
account  of  the  State,  on  the  —  day  of  May,  180-, 
and  the  robbery  thereof.  That  crime,  which  recalls 
deplorable  memories  of  a  civil  war  happily  at  an 
end,  was  accompanied  by  flagitious  circumstances 
no  longer  justified  by  the  heat  of  passion. 

"From  its  origin  to  its  results,  the  plot  is  a  com- 
plicated one,  its  details  are  numerous:  the  investi- 
gation lasted  more  than  a  year;  but  the  evidence, 
(171) 


172  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

following  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  crime,  throws 
a  bright  light  upon  its  preparation,  its  execution  and 
its  consequences. 

"The  idea  of  the  conspiracy  is  chargeable  to  one 
Charles-Amedee-Louis-Joseph-Rifoel,  who  styles 
himself  Chevalier  du  Vissard,  born  at  Vissard  in 
the  commune  of  Saint-Mexme,  near  Ernee,  a  former 
leader  of  rebels. 

"This  culprit,  who  was  pardoned  by  His  Majesty 
the  Emperor  and  King  at  the  time  of  the  final 
pacification,  and  who  has  acknowledged  the  sover- 
eign's magnanimity  only  by  fresh  crimes,  has 
heretofore,  at  the  time  the  last  punishments  were 
inflicted,  suffered  the  penalty  merited  by  so  many 
offences;  but  it  is  necessary  to  recall  some  of  his 
acts,  for  he  exerted  great  influence  over  the  culprits 
at  present  before  the  court,  and  he  is  connected 
with  every  detail  of  the  trial. 

"This  dangerous  agitator,  disguised,  according  to 
the  custom  among  the  rebels,  under  the  name  of 
Pierrot,  wandered  through  the  departments  of  the 
West,  gathering  up  the  elements  of  a  new  outbreak; 
but  his  most  secure  shelter  was  the  chateau  of 
Saint-Savin,  the  residence  of  one  Dame  Lechantre 
and  her  daughter,  Dame  Bryond,  and  situated  in 
the  commune  of  Saint-Savin  and  arrondissement  of 
Mortagne.  That  strategic  point  is  reminiscent  of 
the  most  terrible  incidents  of  the  rebellion  of  1799. 
There  it  was  that  the  courier  was  murdered,  his 
vehicle  robbed  by  a  band  of  brigands  under  the 
command  of  a  woman,  assisted  by  the  too  famous 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  173 

Marche-a-Terre.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  brigand- 
age is,  in  some  sort,  endemic  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. 

"An  intimacy  which  we  will  not  attempt  to 
describe  had  existed  for  more  than  a  year  between 
Dame  Bryond  and  the  said  Rifoe'I. 

"It  was  in  that  commune  that  an  interview  took 
place,  in  April  1808,  between  the  said  Rifoe'I  and 
Boislaurier,  one  of  the  principal  leaders  and  known 
by  the  name  of  Auguste  in  the  deplorable  rebellions 
of  the  West;  it  is  he  whose  mind  directed  the  affair 
now  before  the  court. 

"The  obscure  point  of  the  relations  between  these 
two  leaders,  being  triumphantly  established  by 
numerous  witnesses,  has  furthermore  the  authority 
of  res  judkata,  by  virtue  of  the  conviction  of  the 
said  Rifoe'I. 

"The  said  Boislaurier  made  arrangements  at  that 
interview  with  the  said  Rifoe'I  to  act  in  concert  with 
him. 

"These  two,  and  they  alone  at  first,  communi- 
cated to  each  other  their  baleful  schemes,  inspired 
by  the  absence  of  His  Royal  and  Imperial  Majesty, 
who  was  then  at  the  head  of  his  armies  in  Spain. 
At  that  interview  they  seem  to  have  determined 
upon  the  abduction  of  the  sums  received  for  taxes 
by  the  State  as  the  fundamental  base  of  their 
operations. 

"Some  time  later  one  Dubut,  of  Caen,  despatches 
an  emissary  to  the  chateau  of  Saint-Savin,  one 
Hiley,  alias  Le  Laboureur,  long  known  as  a  robber 


174  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

of  diligences,  to  furnish  information  concerning  the 
men  who  could  be  trusted. 

"Thus  -it  was  that,  through  the  said  Hiley's 
intervention,  the  conspirators  procured  at  the  outset 
the  co-operation  of  one  Herbomez,  alias  General- 
Hardi,  an  ex-rebel  of  the  same  stamp  as  Rifoe'l  and 
like  him  false  to  the  terms  of  the  amnesty. 

"The  said  Herbomez  and  Hiley  thereupon  enlisted 
in  the  neighboring  communes  seven  bandits  whom 
we  must  hasten  to  introduce,  and  who  are: 

"ist.  Jean  Cibot,  called  Pille-Miche,  one  of  the 
boldest  brigands  of  the  band  organized  by  Montauran 
in  the  year  VII.,  one  of  the  authors  of  the  attack 
upon  and  death  of  the  courier  of  Mortagne; 

"2d.  Frangois  Lisieux,  otherwise  called  Le  Grand- 
Fils,  a  malcontent  conscript  of  the  department  of 
Mayenne; 

"3d.  Charles  Grenier,  called  Fleur-de-Gen£t, 
deserter  from  the  6gth  demi-brigade; 

"4th.  Gabriel  Bruce,  called  Gros-Jean,  one  of 
the  most  savage  Chouans  of  the  Fontaine  division; 

"5th.  Jacques  Horeau,  called  Le  Stuart,  ex-lieu- 
tenant of  the  same  demi-brigade,  and  one  of  the 
trusted  friends  of  Tinteniac,  well  known  for  his 
participation  in  the  Quiberon  expedition; 

"6th.  Marie-Anne  Cabot,  called  Lajeunesse,  a 
former  huntsman  in  the  employ  of  Sieur  Carol  of 
Alencon; 

"7th.  Louis  Minard,  rebel. 

"These  recruits  were  quartered  in  three  different 
communes  in  the  houses  of  one  Binet,  one  Melin 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  175 

and  one  Laraviniere,  keepers  of  wineshops  or  inns, 
and  all  devoted  to  Rifoe'l. 

"The  necessary  weapons  were  immediately 
furnished  by  Sieur  Jean-Francois  Leveille,  notary, 
an  incorrigible  correspondent  of  the  brigands,  the 
intermediary  between  them  and  several  leaders  in 
hiding;  and  by  one  Felix  Courceuil,  called  Le  Con- 
fesseur,  formerly  a  surgeon  in  the  rebel  armies  in 
La  Vendee — both  of  Alencon. 

"Eleven  muskets  were  hidden  in  the  house  owned 
by  Sieur  Bryond  in  the  suburbs  of  Alencon,  without 
his  knowledge;  for  he  was  then  living  on  his  country 
estate  between  Alencon  and  Mortagne. 

"When  Sieur  Bryond  left  his  wife,  abandoning 
her  to  her  own  devices  on  the  fatal  path  she  had 
chosen  to  follow,  those  muskets  were  mysteriously 
removed  from  the  house  and  taken  by  Dame  Bryond 
in  her  carriage  to  the  chateau  of  Saint-Savin. 

"Then  it  was  that  the  acts  of  brigandage  took 
place  in  the  department  of  the  Orne  and  the  adjacent 
departments,  taking  the  authorities  by  surprise  no 
more  completely  than  the  inhabitants  of  those  dis- 
tricts which  have  been  so  long  at  peace,  and  demon- 
strating that  these  odious  foes  of  the  government 
and  of  the  French  Empire  had  been  admitted  to  the 
secret  of  the  coalition  of  1809,  by  their  correspond- 
ents in  foreign  countries. 

"The  said  notary,  Leveille,  Dame  Bryond,  Dubut 
of  Caen,  Herbomez  of  Mayenne,  Boislaurier  of  Le 
Mans,  and  Rifoe'l,  were  therefore  the  leaders  of  the 
association,  to  which  the  culprits  already  executed 


176  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

by  virtue  of  the  judgment  against  them  in  conjunc- 
tion with  Rifoe'l  gave  in  their  adhesion,  also  those 
who  are  made  defendants  in  the  present  indictment 
and  several  others  who  have  escaped  the  action  of 
the  public  vengeance  by  flight  or  because  of  the 
silence  of  their  accomplices. 

"It  was  the  said  Dubut  who,  having  his  domicile 
near  Caen,  notified  the  said  Leveille,  notary,  of  the 
despatch  of  the  funds.  Thereafter  Dubut  makes 
several  journeys  from  Caen  to  Mortagne,  and 
Leveille  also  is  frequently  seen  on  the  roads. 

"It  should  be  noted  at  this  point  that,  at  the 
time  the  muskets  were  removed,  Leveille,  who  met 
the  said  Bruce,  Grenier  and  Cibot  in  Melin's  house, 
having  found  them  arranging  the  muskets  under  a 
lean-to  inside,  himself  assisted  in  the  operation. 

"A  general  rendezvous  was  appointed  at  the 
Ecu  de  France  hotel  at  Mortagne.  All  the  defendants 
assembled  there  under  different  disguises.  Then  it 
was  that  Leveille,  Dame  Bryond,  Dubut,  Herbomez, 
Boislaurier  and  Hiley,  the  most  adroit  of  the  second- 
ary conspirators,  as  Cibot  is  the  boldest,  assured 
themselves  of  the  co-operation  of  one  Vauthier, 
called  Vieux-Che'ne,  a  hostler  at  the  hotel,  formerly 
a  servant  in  the  employ  of  the  famous  Longuy. 
Vauthier  consented  to  notify  Dame  Bryond  when 
the  tax-collector's  carriage  passed,  as  it  ordinarily 
stopped  at  the  hotel. 

"The  moment  soon  arrived  for  assembling  the 
enlisted  brigands,  who  had  been  scattered  about  in 
several  houses,  some  in  one  commune,  some  in 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  177 

another,  under  the  management  of  Courceuil  and 
Leveille.  The  junction  was  effected  under  the 
auspices  of  Dame  Bryond,  who  furnished  the  brig- 
ands with  a  new  place  of  retreat  in  an  uninhabited 
wing  of  the  chateau  of  Saint-Savin,  a  few  leagues 
from  Mortagne,  where  she  had  lived  with  her  mother 
since  her  separation  from  her  husband.  The  brig- 
ands, Hiley  at  their  head,  take  up  their  quarters 
there  and  remain  there  several  days.  Dame 
Bryond,  assisted  by  one  Godard,  her  maid,  gives 
her  personal  attention  to  the  preparation  of  every- 
thing necessary  for  boarding  and  lodging  such  guests. 
To  that  end  she  orders  bundles  of  hay  carried  to 
the  brigands,  she  visits  them  in  the  shelter  with 
which  she  provided  them  and  goes  back  and  forth 
several  times  with  Leveille.  The  provisions  and 
supplies  are  carried  to  them  under  the  direction  and 
by  the  efforts  of  Courceuil,  who  receives  his  orders 
from  Rifoe'l  and  Boislaurier. 

"The  main  expedition  takes  shape,  the  armament 
is  completed;  the  brigands  leave  their  hiding-place 
at  Saint-Savin;  they  operate  by  night,  awaiting  the 
passage  of  the  tax-collector,  and  the  province  is 
alarmed  by  their  repeated  aggressions. 

"It  is  beyond  question  that  the  offences  committed 
at  La  Sartiniere,  at  Vonay,  at  the  chateau  of  Saint- 
Seny  were  committed  by  this  band,  whose  audacity 
equals  their  villainy,  and  who  have  succeeded  in 
inspiring  such  terror  that  their  victims  all  hold  their 
peace,  so  that  the  authorities  are  restricted  to  pre- 
sumptions. 


178  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"But,  while  compelling  contributions  from  the 
purchasers  of  national  property,  these  brigands 
carefully  explored  the  wood  of  Chesnay,  selected 
as  the  theatre  of  their  crimes. 

"The  village  of  Louvigny  is  not  far  away.  There 
is  a  public-house  in  that  village  kept  by  the  brothers 
Chaussard,  former  keepers  on  the  Troisville  estate, 
which  was  to  serve  as  the  final  rendezvous  of  the 
brigands.  The  two  brothers  knew  in  advance  the 
part  they  had  to  play;  Courceuil  and  Boislaurier  had 
long  before  made  overtures  to  them  to  rekindle  their 
hatred  against  the  government  of  our  august  emperor, 
informing  them  that,  among  the  guests  who  would 
come  to  their  house,  would  be  certain  men  of  their 
acquaintance,  the  redoubtable  Hiley  and  the  no  less 
redoubtable  Cibot. 

"On  the  6th  the  seven  bandits,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  Hiley,  arrive  at  the  brothers  Chaussard's 
hostelry,  and  pass  two  days  there.  On  the  8th 
their  leader  takes  them  away  again,  saying  that 
they  propose  to  march  about  three  leagues,  and  he 
orders  the  two  brothers  to  furnish  them  with  sup- 
plies, which  are  taken  to  a  fork  in  the  road  not  far 
from  the  village.  Hiley  returns  alone  to  the  inn 
and  sleeps  there. 

"Two  mounted  men,  presumably  Dame  Bryond 
and  Rifoe'l, — for  it  is  asserted  that  that  lady  accom- 
panied Rifoe'l  on  his  expedition,  in  the  saddle  and 
disguised  as  a  man, — arrive  during  the  evening  and 
converse  with  Hiley. 

"The    following  day    Hiley    writes   a   letter   to 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  179 

Leveille  the  notary,  which  is  delivered  by  one  of 
the  brothers  Chaussard,  who  returns  at  once  with 
a  reply. 

"Two  hours  later  Dame  Bryond  and  Rifoe'l  arrive 
on  horseback  and  converse  with  Hiley. 

"The  result  of  all  these  conferences,  of  all  this 
going  and  coming,  is  that  they  must  have  an  axe  to 
break  open  the  chests.  The  notary  escorts  Dame 
Bryond  to  Saint-Savin  and  they  search  in  vain  for 
an  axe  there.  The  notary  returns,  meets  Hiley 
half  way  and  informs  him  that  they  have  no  axe. 

"Hiley  returns  to  the  inn,  orders  supper  for  ten 
persons,  and  introduces  the  seven  brigands,  now  all 
armed.  Hiley  orders  them  to  stack  their  arms  in 
military  fashion.  They  take  their  seats  at  the  table, 
eat  their  supper  in  haste,  and  Hiley  asks  to  be  sup- 
plied with  provisions  in  abundance  to  take  away 
with  them.  Then  he  takes  the  elder  Chaussard 
apart  and  asks  him  for  an  axe.  The  innkeeper,, 
greatly  surprised  if  we  are  to  believe  what  he  says, 
refuses  to  furnish  it.  Courceuil  and  Boislaurier 
arrive;  the  night  slips  away  and  the  three  men  pass 
the  time  pacing  the  floor  and  talking  over  their 
schemes.  Courceuil,  alias  Le  Confesseur,  the  most 
crafty  of  all  the  brigands,  obtains  possession  of  an 
axe;  and  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  all 
leave  the  house  by  different  exits. 

"Moments  are  becoming  precious,  for  the  execu- 
tion of  the  crime  was  appointed  for  that  fatal  day. 
Hiley,  Courceuil,  Boislaurier  bring  up  their  forces 
and  station  them.  Hiley  goes  into  ambush,  with 


180  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

Minard,  Cabot  and  Bruce,  at  the  right  of  Chesnay 
wood.  Boislaurier,  Grenier  and  Horeau  take  up 
their  positions  in  the  centre.  Courceuil,  Herbomez 
and  Lisieux  stand  on  the  edge  of  the  wood.  All 
these  stations  are  indicated  on  the  geometrical  plan 
prepared  by  the  engineer  of  the  registry  office  and 
annexed  to  the  papers. 

"Meanwhile  the  carrier's  wagon  had  left  Mortagne 
at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning,  driven  by  one  Rous- 
seau, whose  guilty  knowledge  seems  so  evident 
from  the  circumstances,  that  his  arrest  seemed 
essential.  The  vehicle,  moving  slowly,  was  due  to 
reach  Chesnay  wood  about  three  o'clock. 

"A  single  gendarme  acted  as  escort;  they  were 
to  breakfast  at  Donnery.  Three  passengers  walked 
with  the  gendarme  from  time  to  time. 

"The  driver,  who  had  walked  very  slowly  with 
them,  when  he  reached  the  bridge  of  Chesnay,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  wood  of  that  name,  urges  his 
horses  with  an  energy  and  animation  that  attract 
attention,  and  turns  into  a  crossroad  called  the 
Senzey  road.  The  vehicle  passes  from  sight,  its 
course  being  indicated  only  by  the  tinkling  of  the 
bells;  the  gendarme  and  the  passengers  quicken 
their  pace  to  overtake  it.  They  hear  the  words: 
'Stop  there,  villains!'  followed  by  four  musket  shots. 

"The  gendarme,  not  being  wounded,  draws  his 
sabre  and  runs  in  the  direction  he  supposes  the 
wagon  to  have  taken.  He  is  stopped  by  four  armed 
men  who  fire  upon  him;  his  ardor  saves  his  life,  for 
he  darts  back  to  bid  one  of  the  young  passengers 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  181 

go  to  give  the  alarm  at  Chesnay;  but  two  brigands 
rush  upon  him  and  take  aim  at  him;  he  is  compelled 
to  fall  back  a  few  steps,  and  thereupon  receives  in 
the  left  armpit,  as  he  is  trying  to  watch  the  wood,  a 
bullet  that  has  broken  his  arm;  he  falls  and  sud- 
denly finds  himself  hors  de  combat. 

"The  shouts  and  the  firing  have  been  heard  at 
Donnery.  The  brigadier  and  one  of  the  gendarmes 
of  that  village  hurry  to  the  spot;  a  sustained  fire 
attracts  them  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  wood  from 
that  where  the  pillage  is  in  progress.  The  gendarme 
tries  to  frighten  the  brigands  by  shouting  in  such  a 
way  as  to  indicate  the  arrival  of  fictitious  reinforce- 
ments. He  cries: 

"  'Forward!  This  way,  the  first  platoon!  We  have 
them!  The  second  platoon  this  way!' 

"The  brigands,  in  reply,  shout: 

"  'To  arms!  This  way,  comrades!  More  men, 
quick!' 

"The  rattle  of  the  musketry  prevents  the  brigadier 
from  hearing  the  cries  of  the  wounded  gendarme,  or 
from  assisting  in  the  similar  manoeuvre  by  which 
the  other  gendarme  holds  the  brigands  in  check;  but 
he  can  distinguish  a  noise  nearer  at  hand,  the 
shattering  and  breaking  open  of  the  money-chests. 
He  advances  in  that  direction;  four  armed  bandits 
detain  him. 

"'Surrender,  villains!'  he  cries. 

"They  retort: 

"  'Come  no  nearer  or  you're  a  dead  man!' 

"The  brigadier  rides  forward,  two  shots  are  fired, 


182  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

and  he  is  wounded;  a  bullet  passes  through  his  left 
leg  and  enters  his  horse's  side.  The  gallant  officer, 
bathed  in  his  own  blood,  is  forced  to  abandon  the 
unequal  combat;  he  cries,  but  in  vain: 

"  'Help!  The  brigands  are  in  Chesnay  wood!' 
"The  brigands,  remaining  masters  of  the  field, 
thanks  to  their  number,  searched  the  wagon,  which 
was  driven  into  a  ravine  for  that  purpose.  They 
covered  the  driver's  head  as  a  blind.  They  broke 
open  the  chests,  the  ground  was  strewn  with  bags 
of  money.  The  horses  were  unharnessed  and  the 
money  loaded  upon  the  horses.  They  scorned  three 
thousand  francs  in  copper,  and  carried  away  the 
sum  of  one  hundred  and  three  thousand  francs  upon 
four  horses.  They  went  in  the  direction  of  the 
hamlet  of  Menneville,  which  adjoins  the  village  of 
Saint-Savin.  The  band  with  their  booty  stopped 
at  an  isolated  house  belonging  to  the  brothers  Chaus- 
sard  and  occupied  by  their  uncle,  one  Bourget,  who 
was  privy  to  the  plot  from  the  beginning.  That  old 
man,  assisted  by  his  wife,  welcomes  the  brigands, 
enjoins  silence  upon  them,  unloads  the  money,  and 
goes  to  draw  liquor  for  them  to  drink.  The  woman 
does  sentry  duty  in  the  direction  of  the  chateau. 
The  old  man  unharnesses  the  horses,  leads  them 
back  to  the  wood,  restores  them  to  the  driver,  sets 
free  two  of  the  passengers  who  had  been  bound,  as 
had  the  obliging  driver.  Having  taken  a  brief  rest 
the  bandits  resume  their  march.  Courceuil,  Hiley, 
Boislaurier  pass  their  accomplices  in  review;  and, 
after  bestowing  a  very  moderate  compensation  upon 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  183 

each  of  them,  the  leaders  scatter,  each  going  his 
own  way. 

"Upon  reaching  a  spot  called  Champ-Landry,  the 
miscreants,  obeying  the  voice  which  impels  all  such 
wretches  to  plunge  headlong  into  the  contradictions 
and  false  reckonings  of  crime,  throw  their  muskets 
into  a  field  of  grain.  That  action,  performed  by 
common  consent,  was  the  last  indication  of  their 
mutual  undertaking.  Terror-stricken  by  the  impu- 
dence of  their  wicked  deed  and  by  its  very  success, 
they  disperse. 

"The  robbery  once  accomplished  with  the  accom- 
paniments of  murder  and  assault  with  arms,  the  scene 
changes  and  other  actors  appear  in  connection  with 
the  proceeds  of  the  robbery  and  its  disposition. 

"Rifoe'l,  in  hiding  in  Paris,  whence  his  hand  has 
guided  every  thread  of  the  plot,  transmits  to  Leveille 
an  order  to  send  him  fifty  thousand  francs  as  soon 
as  possible. 

"Courceuil,  who  was  familiar  with  all  the  details 
of  the  crime,  had  already  sent  Hiley  to  inform 
Leveille  of  their  success  and  of  his  arrival  at  Mor- 
tagne.  Leveille  goes  thither. 

"Vauthier,  upon  whose  fidelity  they  believed  that 
they  could  rely,  undertakes  to  go  to  the  Chaussards' 
uncle;  he  arrives  at  the  house,  the  old  man  tells 
him  that  he  must  apply  to  his  nephews,  who  have 
delivered  large  sums  to  Dame  Bryond.  He  bids 
him  wait  on  the  road,  however,  and  gives  him  a  bag 
containing  twelve  hundred  francs,  which  Vauthier 
carries  to  Dame  Lechantre  for  her  daughter. 


1 84  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

"At  the  urgent  request  of  Leveille,  Vauthier 
returns  to  Bourget,  who,  on  this  occasion,  sends 
him  directly  to  his  nephews.  The  elder  Chaussard 
leads  Vauthier  into  the  woods,  points  out  a  certain 
tree  to  him,  and  at  its  foot  he  finds  a  bag  containing 
one  thousand  francs  buried.  Subsequently  Leveille, 
Hiley,  Vauthier,  all  make  journeys  to  the  wood,  and 
every  time  a  trifling  sum,  compared  to  the  total 
amount  stolen,  is  given  them. 

"Madame  Lechantre  receives  these  sums  at  Mor- 
tagne,  and,  upon  receipt  of  a  letter  of  instruction 
from  her  daughter,  transports  them  to  Saint-Savin, 
whither  Dame  Bryond  had  returned. 

"This  is  not  the  moment  to  inquire  whether  the 
woman  Lechantre  had  prior  knowledge  of  the  con- 
spiracy. 

"It  is  sufficient  for  the  present  to  observe  that 
she  leaves  Mortagne  to  go  to  Saint-Savin  on  the  day 
preceding  the  execution  of  the  crime  and  bring  her 
daughter  away;  that  they  meet  after  accomplishing 
half  the  distance  between  these  points,  and  return 
to  Mortagne;  that,  on  the  day  following,  the  notary, 
advised  by  Hiley,  goes  from  Alencon  to  Mortagne, 
immediately  calls  upon  them  and  induces  them,  later, 
to  carry  the  funds  obtained  with  such  difficulty  from 
the  brothers  Chaussard  and  Bourget  to  a  house  at 
Alencon,  concerning  which  we  shall  soon  have  some- 
thing to  say,  the  house  of  Sieur  Pannier,  a  tradesman. 

"Dame  Lechantre  writes  to  the  keeper  at  Saint- 
Savin  to  come  to  Mortagne  and  drive  herself  and  her 
daughter  toward  Alencon  by  an  unfrequented  road. 


MADAME   DE   LA  CHANTERIE  185 

"The  money,  amounting  to  twenty  thousand 
francs  in  all,  is  loaded  at  night,  and  the  Godard  girl 
assists  in  the  loading. 

"The  notary  had  marked  out  the  road  to  be 
followed.  They  reached  the  inn  kept  by  one  of  the 
faithful,  one  Louis  Chargegrain,  in  the  commune 
of  Littray.  Despite  the  precautions  taken  by 
the  notary,  who  rode  out  to  meet  the  carriage, 
there  were  witnesses  present,  who  saw  the  port- 
manteaus and  sacks  containing  the  money  taken 
from  the  carriage. 

"But,  at  the  moment  that  Courceuil  and  Hiley, 
disguised  as  women,  upon  a  public  square  in  Alen^on, 
were  consulting  with  Sieur  Pannier,  treasurer  of  the 
rebels  since  1794  and  a  devoted  adherent  of  Rifoe'l, 
as  to  the  means  of  forwarding  to  Rifoe'l  the  sum  he 
requested,  the  terror  caused  by  the  first  arrests  and 
by  the  investigation  set  on  foot  reached  such  a 
point,  that  Dame  Lechantre,  becoming  anxious,  fled 
in  the  night  time  from  the  inn  where  she  was,  tak- 
ing her  daughter  with  her  by  devious  paths,  and 
took  refuge  in  the  secret  hiding-places  of  the  chateau 
of  Saint-Savin.  The  same  fright  seized  upon  the 
other  culprits.  Courceuil,  Boislaurier  and  his  kins- 
man Dubut  changed  two  thousand  francs  in  silver 
crowns  for  gold  at  a  money-changer's,  and  fled  to 
England  by  way  of  Bretagne. 

"Upon  their  arrival  at  Saint-Savin,  Dames  Le- 
chantre and  Bryond  learned  of  the  arrests  of  Bourget, 
the  driver  of  the  wagon,  and  the  refractory  con- 
scripts. 


1 86  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"The  magistrates,  the  gendarmerie,  the  authori- 
ties were  dealing  such  well-aimed  blows  that  it 
seemed  urgently  necessary  to  remove  Dame  Bryond 
beyond  the  reach  of  judicial  investigation,  for  she 
was  an  object  of  devotion  to  all  the  miscreants,  who 
were  fascinated  by  her.  Therefore  Dame  Bryond 
leaves  Saint-Savin  and  conceals  herself,  first  in 
Alenc.on,  where  her  faithful  followers  take  counsel 
together  and  succeed  in  concealing  her  in  Pannier's 
cellar. 

"At  this  point,  the  affair  takes  on  a  different 
aspect. 

"After  the  arrest  of  Bourget  and  his  wife,  the 
Chaussards  refused  to  deliver  any  more  of  the 
money,  claiming  that  they  had  been  betrayed. 
That  unexpected  defection  happened  at  the  moment 
when  the  most  urgent  need  of  money  was  felt  by 
all  the  conspirators,  in  order  to  assure  their  safety 
if  for  no  other  purpose.  Rifoe'l  was  thirsty  for 
money.  Hiley,  Cibot,  Leveille  began  to  distrust 
the  brothers  Chaussard. 

"At  this  point  occurs  a  new  incident,  which  calls 
for  rigorous  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  authorities. 

"Two  gendarmes  detailed  to  discover  Dame 
Bryond's  hiding-place  succeed  in  making  their  way 
into  Pannier's  house,  they  are  present  at  a  confer- 
ence there;  but  these  men,  being  unworthy  of  the 
confidence  of  their  superiors,  instead  of  arresting 
Dame  Bryond,  fall  victims  to  her  fascinations.  These 
unworthy  officials,  Ratel  and  Mallet  by  name,  lavish 
upon  her  demonstrations  of  the  warmest  interest, 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  187 

and  offer  to  escort  her  safely  to  the  Chaussards,  in 
order  that  she  may  force  them  to  disgorge. 

"Dame  Bryond  sets  out  on  horseback,  disguised 
in  male  attire,  attended  by  Ratel,  Mallet  and  the 
Godard  girl.  She  travels  by  night.  She  reaches 
her  destination;  she  has  an  animated  interview, 
alone,  with  one  of  the  brothers  Chaussard.  She 
had  armed  herself  with  a  pistol,  having  determined 
to  blow  out  her  accomplice's  brains  in  case  of 
refusal;  but  he  takes  her  into  the  woods,  whence 
she  returns  with  a  heavy  bag.  On  her  return  she 
finds  in  the  bag  copper  coins  and  twelve  sou  pieces, 
amounting  to  fifteen  hundred  francs. 

"Thereupon  it  is  proposed  that  all  the  conspirators 
who  can  be  gotten  together  make  a  descent  on  the 
Chaussards,  seize  upon  them  and  put  them  to  the 
torture. 

"Pannier,  upon  learning  of  the  failure  of  the 
expedition,  flies  into  a  rage  and  indulges  in  dire 
threats;  and  Dame  Bryond,  although  threatening 
him  in  return  with  RifoeTs  wrath,  is  forced  to  fly. 

"All  these  details  are  included  in  the  confession 
of  Ratel. 

"Mallet,  touched  by  her  plight,  offers  Dame 
Bryond  shelter.  They  all  go  to  the  forest  of  Trois- 
ville  to  pass  the  night.  Thence  Mallet  and  Ratel, 
accompanied  by  Hiley  and  Cibot,  repair  during  the 
night  to  the  house  of  the  brothers  Chaussard;  but 
they  learn  that  the  two  brothers  have  left  the 
province,  and  that  the  balance  of  the  money  is 
certainly  out  of  their  reach. 


188  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"This  was  the  last  effort  of  the  plotters  to  obtain 
possession  of  the  proceeds  of  the  robbery. 

"At  this  time  it  will  be  well  to  point  out  the 
precise  part  played  by  each  of  the  authors  of  this 
crime. 

"Dubut,  Boislaurier,  Gentil,  Herbomez,  Cour- 
ceuil  and  Hiley  are  the  principal  offenders,  some 
plotting,  others  acting. 

"Boislaurier,  Dubut  and  Courceuil,  all  three  of 
whom  are  fugitives  from  justice,  are  accustomed  to 
rebellion,  fomenters  of  trouble,  implacable  enemies 
of  Napoleon  the  Great,  of  his  victories,  of  his 
dynasty,  of  his  government,  of  our  new  laws  and 
of  the  imperial  constitution. 

"Herbomez  and  Hiley  have  audaciously  helped  to 
execute  with  their  arms  what  their  brains  conceived. 

"The  guilt  of  the  seven  instruments  of  the  crime, 
to  wit:  Cibot,  Lisieux,  Grenier,  Bruce,  Horeau, 
Cabot,  Minard,  is  notorious;  it  is  proved  by  the 
confessions  of  those  of  them  who  are  in  the  grasp 
of  the  law,  for  Lisieux  died  during  the  preliminary 
examination  and  Bruce  is  a  fugitive. 

"The  conduct  of  Rousseau  the  driver  is  stamped 
with  guilty  knowledge.  His  moderation  on  the  road, 
the  precipitate  speed  to  which  he  urged  his  horses 
at  the  entrance  to  the  forest,  his  persistence  in 
declaring  that  his  head  was  covered,  whereas, 
according  to  the  testimony  of  the  passengers,  the 
leader  of  the  brigands  ordered  his  handkerchief  to 
be  taken  off  and  bade  him  identify  them, — all  these 
facts  afford  the  strongest  presumption  of  complicity. 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  189 

"Turning  to  Dame  Bryond  and  the  notary 
Leveille,  how  could  complicity  be  more  continuous 
and  more  clearly  proven  than  theirs?  They  con- 
stantly provided  the  means  of  committing  the  crime, 
they  knew  all  about  it,  they  aided  and  abetted  in  it. 
Leveille  traveled  hither  and  thither  upon  all  sorts 
of  errands.  Dame  Bryond  invented  stratagem  upon 
stratagem;  she  risked  everything,  even  her  life,  to 
assure  the  recovery  of  the  funds.  She  lends  her 
chateau,  her  carriage,  she  is  in  the  plot  from  the 
beginning;  she  did  not  deter  the  principal  promoter, 
when  she  might  have  exerted  her  guilty  influence 
to  that  end.  She  involved  her  maid,  Godard. 
Leveille  was  so  deeply  interested  in  the  execution 
of  the  scheme,  that  he  tried  to  obtain  the  axe  that 
the  brigands  desired. 

"The  wife  of  Bourget,  Vauthier,  the  Chaussards, 
Pannier,  Dame  Lechantre,  Mallet  and  Ratel  were 
all  participants  in  the  crime  in  different  degrees,  as 
were  the  innkeepers  Melin,  Binet,  Laraviniere  and 
Chargegrain. 

"Bourget  died  during  the  preliminary  examination, 
after  making  a  confession  which  removes  all  doubt 
as  to  the  part  taken  by  Vauthier  and  by  Dame 
Bryond;  and,  although  he  attempted  to  lighten  the 
burden  of  the  charges  against  his  wife  and  his 
nephews  the  Chaussards,  the  motive  of  his  reticence 
regarding  them  is  easily  understood. 

"But  the  Chaussards  knowingly  furnished  aid  and 
comfort  to  the  brigands,  they  saw  them  with  arms 
in  their  hands,  they  witnessed  all  their  preparations, 


190  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

and  they  allowed  the  axe  required  for  breaking 
open  the  chests  to  be  taken  from  them,  well 
knowing  the  use  to  which  it  was  to  be  put.  Lastly, 
they  received  the  proceeds  of  the  robbery,  they 
saw  portions  thereof  carried  away,  and  they  con- 
cealed and  appropriated  the  greater  part  thereof. 

"Pannier,  the  former  treasurer  of  the  rebels, 
provided  Dame  Bryond  with  a  place  of  concealment; 
he  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  participants  in  this 
crime;  he  was  privy  to  it  from  the  beginning.  With 
him  begin  new  ramifications,  which  are  still  involved 
in  obscurity,  but  which  the  eye  of  the  law  will  keep 
watch  upon.  He  is  the  trusted  confidant  of  Rifoe'l, 
the  depository  of  the  secrets  of  the  counter-revolu- 
tionary faction  in  the  West;  he  regretted  that  Rifoe'l 
admitted  women  to  the  plot  and  placed  confidence 
in  them;  he  received  some  of  the  stolen  money  and 
he  sent  various  sums  to  Rifoe'l. 

"As  for  the  conduct  of  the  two  gendarmes,  Ratel 
and  Mallet,  it  calls  for  the  utmost  rigor  of  the  law: 
they  were  false  to  their  duty.  One  of  them, 
anticipating  his  fate,  committed  suicide,  but  only 
after  making  disclosures  of  great  importance.  The 
other,  Mallet,  denied  nothing;  his  admissions  put  an 
end  to  all  uncertainty. 

"Dame  Lechantre,  notwithstanding  her  persistent 
denials,  was  privy  to  the  whole  plot.  The  hypocrisy 
of  this  woman,  who  tries  to  shelter  her  pretended 
innocence  behind  the  shibboleth  of  false  piety,  has 
a  history  which  proves  her  resolution  and  intrepidity 
in  emergencies.  She  alleges  that  she  was  deceived 


MADAME   DE  LA  CHANTERIE  191 

by  her  daughter,  that  she  believed  the  funds  in 
question  to  belong  to  Sieur  Bryond.  A  vulgar  ruse! 
If  Sieur  Bryond  had  had  money  he  would  not  have 
left  the  province  to  avoid  being  a  witness  of  his  own 
shame.  Dame  Lechantre's  mind  was  set  at  rest  as 
to  the  disgrace  of  resorting  to  robbery,  when  she 
found  that  it  was  approved  by  her  confederate  Bois- 
laurier.  But  how  does  she  explain  RifoeTs  presence 
at  Saint-Savin,  his  relations  and  his  expeditions  with 
her  daughter,  and  the  sojourn  of  the  brigands  at 
Saint-Savin,  waited  upon  by  the  Godard  girl  and 
Dame  Bryond?  She  pleads  heavy  slumber,  she 
takes  refuge  in  an  alleged  habit  of  going  to  bed  at 
seven  o'clock,  and  she  knows  not  what  reply  to 
make  when  the  examining  magistrate  calls  her 
attention  to  the  fact  that  she  rose  at  dawn,  and 
that  at  dawn  she  must  have  noticed  some  traces  of 
the  conspiracy  and  of  the  visit  of  so  many  people, 
and  that  she  would  naturally  have  been  disturbed 
by  the  nocturnal  going  and  coming  of  her  daughter. 
Thereupon  she  observes  that  she  was  praying. 
The  woman  is  a  model  of  hypocrisy.  But  her  jour- 
ney on  the  day  of  the  crime,  her  solicitude  to  take 
her  daughter  to  Mortagne,  her  journey  with  the 
money,  her  precipitate  flight  when  everything  was 
discovered,  the  pains  that  she  takes  to  conceal  her- 
self, the  very  circumstances  of  her  arrest — all  tend 
to  establish  her  complicity  from  the  beginning.  She 
does  not  act  like  a  mother  who  wishes  to  advise  her 
daughter  and  rescue  her  from  her  danger,  but  like 
a  trembling  accomplice;  and  her  complicity  is  not 


192  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

the  rash  impulse  of  maternal  affection,  but  the  fruit 
of  party  spirit,  the  inspiration  of  her  well-known 
hatred  of  His  Royal  and  Imperial  Majesty's  govern- 
ment. But  even  ill-advised  maternal  affection 
would  not  excuse  her;  and  we  must  not  forget  that 
early,  deliberate  assent  to  the  plot  is  the  most 
convincing  evidence  of  complicity. 

"The  details  of  the  crime  as  well  as  its  artisans 
are  laid  bare.  We  see  the  ghastly  assemblage  of 
the  fanatics  of  faction  lured  by  the  bait  of  rapine, 
murder  counseled  by  party  spirit,  under  whose 
a^gis  they  strive  to  justify  the  basest  excesses  to 
their  own  consciences.  The  voice  of  the  leaders 
gives  the  signal  for  the  plunder  of  the  public  funds 
to  pay  for  future  crimes;  base,  evil-minded  hirelings 
commit  the  robbery  for  a  small  fee  and  do  not 
recoil  at  assassination;  and  fomenters  of  rebellion, 
no  less  guilty,  assist  in  the  division  and  concealment 
of  the  booty.  What  society  would  tolerate  such 
hateful  crimes?  The  law  provides  no  penalty 
severe  enough  to  punish  them. 

"Wherefore  the  special  criminal  court  will  be 
called  upon  to  determine  whether  the  said  Herbomez, 
Hiley,  Cibot,  Grenier,  Horeau,  Cabot,  Minard, 
Melin,  Binet,  Laravini£re,  Rousseau,  Dame  Bryond, 
Leveille,  Dame  Bourget,  Vauthier,  Chaussard  the 
elder,  Pannier,  Widow  Lechantre,  Mallet, — all  the 
above-named  defendants  being  in  custody, — and 
the  said  Boislaurier,  Dubut,  Courceuil,  Bruce, 
Chaussard  the  younger,  Chargegrain,  Demoiselle 
Godard — these  last  being  absent  and  fugitives  from 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  193 

justice — are  guilty  or  not  guilty  of  the  acts  set  forth 
in  this  indictment. 

"Done  at  Caen,  in  the  office  of  the  prosecuting 
attorney,  this  ist  day  of  December,  180-. 

"Signed,       BARON  BOURLAC." 


This  legal  document,  much  briefer  and  more 
imperative  than  the  indictments  of  to-day,  which 
set  forth  so  fully  and  in  such  minute  detail  the  most 
trivial  circumstances  and  especially  the  previous 
criminal  record  of  the  defendant,  made  a  profound 
impression  upon  Godefroid.  The  dry  style  of  the 
document,  wherein  the  official  pen  had  noted  down 
in  red  ink  the  principal  details  of  the  affair,  set  his 
imagination  at  work.  Condensed,  concise  narra- 
tives are  to  certain  minds  texts  into  which  they 
plunge  and  investigate  their  mysterious  depths. 

In  the  middle  of  the  night,  assisted  by  the  silence 
and  the  darkness,  and  by  the  terrible  connection 
between  that  document  and  Madanae  dela  Chanterie, 
which  the  excellent  Alain  had  led  him  to  suspect, 
Godefroid  exerted  all  the  forces  of  his  intelligence 
to  work  out  the  appalling  problem. 

Evidently  the  name  Lechantre  was  the  family 
name  of  the  La  Chanteries,  who  had  doubtless  been 
shorn  of  their  aristocratic  suffix  under  the  Republic 
and  the  Empire. 

He  formed  a  mental  picture  of  the  region  where 
the  drama  had  been  enacted.  The  faces  of  the 
secondary  conspirators  passed  before  his  eyes.  He 
drew  an  imaginary  sketch,  not  of  Rifoe'l,  but  of  a 
Chevalier  du  Vissard,  a  young  man  resembling  Sir 
Walter  Scott's  Fergus,  the  French  Jacobite,  in  a 
(i95) 


196  THE   OTHER  SIDE 

word.  He  worked  out  the  theme  of  the  romantic 
passion  of  a  young  woman  grossly  betrayed  by  the 
infamous  conduct  of  a  husband — a  type  of  romance 
then  much  in  vogue — loving  a  young  chieftain  in 
rebellion  against  the  Emperor,  and  plunging  head- 
long into  a  conspiracy,  like  Diana  Vernon;  losing 
her  head  and  unable  to  stop  when  she  was  once 
fairly  started  upon  that  perilous  incline!  Had  she 
gone  on  as  far  as  the  scaffold? 

Godefroid  saw  as  in  a  vision  the  whole  band  of 
conspirators.  He  wandered  among  the  Norman 
copses,  he  saw  the  Breton  chevalier  and  Madame 
Bryond  in  the  fields;  he  lived  at  the  old  chateau 
of  Saint-Savin;  he  was  present  at  the  various  scenes 
at  which  they  were  all  won  over;  he  imagined  the 
features  of  the  notary,  the  tradesman  and  all  the 
bold  Chouan  leaders.  He  readily  divined  the  almost 
universal  concurrence  of  a  region  which  still  kept 
alive  the  memory  of  the  expeditions  of  the  famous 
Marche-a-Terre,  of  the  Comtes  de  Bauvan  and  De 
Longuy,  of  the  massacre  of  La  Vivetiere  and  of  the 
death  of  the  Marquis  de  Montauran  whose  exploits 
had  already  been  narrated  to  him  by  Madame  de  la 
Chante'rie. 

This  species  of  vision  of  men  and  things  and 
places  passed  very  swiftly.  Reflecting  that  he  still 
had  much  to  learn  concerning  the  imposing,  noble, 
devout  old  lady  whose  virtues  exercised  so  great  an 
influence  over  him  as  to  transform  him,  Godefroid, 
with  a  thrill  of  terror  seized  the  second  document 
given  him  by  Alain,  which  was  entitled: 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  197 

"Brief  in  behalf  of  Madame  Henriette  Bryond  des 
Tours- Minilres,  born  Lechantre  de  la  Chanterie." 

"That  settles  it!"  said  Godefroid  to  himself. 

The  tenor  of  the  document  was  as  follows: 

"We  are  convicted  and  we  are  guilty;  but  if  a 
case  can  be  made  for  the  exercise  of  the  right  of 
pardon  by  the  sovereign,  do  not  the  circumstances 
of  this  case  make  it  such  an  one? 

"It  is  the  case  of  a  young  woman,  who  has 
declared  that  she  is  about  to  become  a  mother,  and 
who  is  condemned  to  death. 

"Upon  the  threshold  of  a  prison,  in  presence  of 
the  scaffold  that  awaits  her,  that  woman  will  tell  the 
truth. 

"The  truth  will  plead  for  her,  to  it  she  will  owe 
her  pardon. 

"In  the  indictment  tried  by  the  criminal  court  at 
Alencon,  there  were,  as  there  are  in  all  indictments 
against  a  large  number  of  defendants  jointly  accused 
of  complicity  in  a  conspiracy  based  upon  the  spirit 
of  faction,  some  portions  involved  in  serious 
obscurity. 

"His  Royal  and  Imperial  Majesty's  chancery 
office  is  to-day  in  possession  of  the  facts  concerning 
the  mysterious  personage  known  as  Le  Marchand, 
whose  presence  in  the  Department  of  the  Orne 
during  the  trial  was  not  denied  by  the  prosecuting 
authorities,  but  whom  it  was  not  deemed  advisable 
to  include  in  the  indictment,  and  whom  the  defense 
was  able  neither  to  find,  nor  to  produce  in  court  if 
found. 


198  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"That  personage  is,  as  the  prosecuting  attorney, 
the  prefecture,  the  Paris  police  and  His  Royal  and 
Imperial  Majesty's  chancery  office  well  know,  Sieur 
Bernard-Polydor  Bryond  des  Tours-Minieres,  a 
correspondent  since  1794  of  the  Comte  de  Lille,* 
known  in  foreign  countries  by  the  name  of  Baron 
des  Tours-Minieres,  and  in  the  records  of  the 
Parisian  police  by  the  name  of  Contenson. 

"He  is  a  man  of  exceptional  character,  a  man 
whose  youth  and  noble  birth  have  been  dishonored 
by  such  all-absorbing  vices,  by  such  profound 
immorality,  by  such  foul  crimes,  that  his  infamous 
life  would  certainly  have  ended  on  the  scaffold,  save 
for  the  cunning  with  which  he  was  able  to  make 
himself  useful  in  his  double  role,  implied  by  his 
double  name.  But,  being  dominated  more  and 
more  by  his  passions,  by  his  growing  needs,  he  will 
end  by  falling  lower  than  infamy,  and  will  serve  in 
the  lowest  ranks,  despite  his  incontestable  talents 
and  a  mind  of  remarkable  power. 

"When  the  Comte  de  Lille  in  his  wisdom  refused 
to  allow  Bryond  to  handle  any  more  of  the  funds 
furnished  by  foreign  powers,  he  determined  to  leave 
the  blood-stained  arena  to  which  his  necessities  had 
driven  him. 

"Was  that  career  no  longer  fruitful  enough?  Was 
it  remorse  or  shame  that  impelled  this  man  to  return 
to  the  province  where  his  property,  laden  with  debt 
even  before  his  departure,  was  likely  to  furnish 
small  resources  for  the  development  of  his  genius? 

*  Afterwards  Louis  XVIII. 


MADAME   DE   LA  CHANTERIE  199 

It  is  impossible  to  believe  it.  A  more  probable 
supposition  is  that  he  had  a  mission  to  fulfill  in  those 
departments,  where  some  embers  of  our  civil  dis- 
cords were  still  smoldering. 

"While  he  was  looking  over  the  province  in  which 
his  treacherous  co-operation  in  the  intrigues  of 
England  and  the  Comte  de  Lille  procured  for  him 
the  confidence  of  those  families  which  belonged  to 
the  party  conquered  by  the  genius  of  our  immortal 
Emperor,  he  fell  in  with  one  of  the  former  rebel 
leaders,  with  whom,  at  the  time  of  the  Quiberon 
expedition  and  of  the  last  uprising  of  the  rebels  in 
the  year  VII.,  he  had  had  some  intercourse  as  an 
envoy  from  the  foreigner.  He  encouraged  the  hopes 
of  that  great  agitator,  who  has  suffered  the  supreme 
penalty  for  his  plots  against  the  State.  Thus  Bryond 
was  enabled  to  discover  the  secrets  of  that  irrepres- 
sible party,  which  fails  to  appreciate  the  glory  of 
His  Majesty  the  Emperor  Napoleon  I,  and  the  true 
interests  of  the  realm,  which  are  united  in  his 
sacred  person. 

"At  the  age  of  thirty-five,  professing  the  most 
sincere  piety,  boundless  devotion  to  the  interests  of 
the  Comte  de  Lille  and  veneration  for  the  insurgents 
who  met  their  death  in  the  strife  in  the  West, 
disguising  adroitly  the  indications  of  the  excesses 
that  had  wasted  his  youth,  which  still  provided  him 
with  some  external  attractions,  and  efficiently  pro- 
tected by  the  silence  of  his  creditors  and  by  the 
most  extraordinary  complaisance  on  the  part  of  all 
the  ci-devants  of  the  province,  that  man,  a  veritable 


200  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

whited  sepulchre,  was  introduced,  with  all  those 
claims  to  consideration,  to  Dame  Lechantre,  who 
was  believed  to  be  very  wealthy. 

"The  design  was  to  marry  Mademoiselle  Henriette, 
Madame  Lechantre's  only  daughter,  to  this  protege 
of  ci-devants. 

"Priests,  ex-nobles,  creditors,  each  in  a  different 
interest,  praiseworthy  in  some,  avaricious  in  others, 
blind  in  the  great  majority, — all  conspired  to  bring 
about  the  union  of  Bernard  Bryond  and  Henriette 
Lechantre. 

"The  good  sense  of  the  notary  who  had  charge 
of  Madame  Lechantre's  affairs,  and  perhaps  some 
little  distrust,  were  the  cause  of  the  young  woman's 
ruin.  Sieur  Chesnel,  notary  at  Alengon,  provided 
in  the  contract  that  the  estate  of  Saint-Savin,  the 
future  bride's  only  property,  should  be  held  under 
the  dotal  regime,*  the  dwelling-house  and  a  modest 
income  being  settled  upon  the  mother. 

"The  creditors,  who  supposed  that  Madame 
Lechantre,  because  of  her  methodical  and  economical 
mode  of  life,  possessed  considerable  capital,  were 
deceived  in  their  hopes;  and  all  of  them,  convinced 
of  that  lady's  avarice,  instituted  proceedings  which 
disclosed  Bryond's  precarious  plight. 

"Grave  differences  thereupon  arose  between  the 
newly-made  husband  and  wife,  and  they  resulted 
in  revealing  to  the  young  woman  the  depraved 


*That  is  to  say,  the  contract  provided  for  preserving  the  wife's  dowry 
intact;  a  common  provision  for  this  purpose  was  that  the  dotal  property 
should  be  inalienable. 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  2OI 

morals,  the  religious  and  political  atheism,  and — 
shall  I  use  the  word? — the  infamy  of  the  man  with 
whose  destiny  hers  was  so  unhappily  united. 
Bryond,  compelled  to  admit  his  wife  to  the  secret 
of  the  hateful  plots  woven  against  the  imperial 
government,  offered  Rifoe'l  du  Vissard  shelter  in  his 
house. 

"The  character  of  Rifoe'l,  adventurous,  fearless, 
generous,  exerted  over  all  who  came  in  contact 
with  him  a  fascination  of  which  proofs  abound  in  the 
records  of  the  criminal  trials  before  three  special 
criminal  tribunals. 

"The  irresistible  influence,  the  absolute  dominion 
which  he  acquired  over  a  young  woman  who  found 
herself  at  the  bottom  of  an  abyss,  is  only  too  evident 
from  the  catastrophe  whose  horrible  sequel  causes 
her  to  kneel  a  suppliant  at  the  foot  of  the  throne. 
But  a  fact  that  His  Royal  and  Imperial  Majesty's 
chancery  can  readily  cause  to  be  verified  is  the  base 
complaisance  of  Bryond,  who,  far  from  fulfilling  his 
duty  as  guide  and  counselor  of  the  child  whom  a 
poor  deceived  mother  had  entrusted  to  him,  took 
delight  in  drawing  tighter  the  knots  of  the  intimacy 
between  young  Henriette  and  the  rebel  leader. 

"This  was  the  plan  of  that  execrable  individual, 
who  glories  in  his  contempt  for  all  things,  in  his 
utter  disregard  of  every  object  save  the  gratification 
of  his  passions,  and  who  looks  upon  the  sentiments 
dictated  by  civil  and  religious  morality  alike  as  mere 
vulgar  obstacles. 

"This  is  the  proper  place  to  note  how  familiar 


202  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

such  a  scheme  must  be  to  a  man  who,  since  1794, 
has  been  playing  a  double  role,  and  who,  for  eight 
years  past,  has  succeeded  in  deceiving  the  Comte 
de  Lille  and  his  partisans,  and  it  may  be  in  deceiving 
the  general  police  of  the  Empire  as  well:  do  not  such 
men  belong  to  him  who  pays  them  the  highest  price? 

"Bryond  spurred  Rifoe'I  on  to  the  crime;  he 
insisted  upon  attacks  with  force  and  arms  upon  the 
funds  of  the  State  and  upon  levying  an  extensive 
contribution  upon  the  purchasers  of  national  property 
by  means  of  the  horrible  tortures  which  caused  a 
thrill  of  dismay  through  five  departments,  and  which 
were  a  conception  of  his  brain.  He  demanded  that 
three  hundred  thousand  francs  should  be  turned 
over  to  him  to  discharge  the  incumbrances  upon  his 
property. 

"In  the  event  of  resistance  on  the  part  of  his  wife 
or  Rifoe'I,  he  proposed  to  avenge  himself  for  the 
contempt  he  inspired  in  that  upright  young  woman 
by  giving  them  both  over  to  the  rigor  of  the  law  as 
soon  as  they  should  have  committed  any  serious 
crime. 

"When  he  saw  that  the  spirit  of  party  was 
stronger  than  his  selfish  interests  in  the  two  beings 
whom  he  had  bound  together,  he  disappeared  and 
returned  to  Paris,  fortified  with  full  information 
concerning  the  position  of  affairs  in  the  departments 
of  the  West. 

"The  brothers  Chaussard  and  Vauthier  were 
Bryond's  correspondents,  as  is  well  known  to  the 
chancery  office. 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  203 

"Returning  secretly  and  in  disguise  to  the  prov- 
ince, as  soon  as  the  attack  upon  the  Caen  remittance 
was  committed,  Bryond,  under  the  name  of  Le 
Marchand,  entered  into  a  secret  correspondence 
with  Monsieur  le  Prefet  and  the  magistrates.  What 
was  the  result?  Never  was  a  conspiracy  of  greater 
extent  and  participated  in  by  so  many  persons 
occupying  such  widely  different  positions  on  the 
social  ladder,  more  speedily  known  to  the  authori- 
ties than  that  whose  first  overt  act  was  the  attack 
upon  the  Caen  remittance.  All  the  culprits  were 
followed  and  watched,  six  days  after  the  commission 
of  the  offense,  with  a  perspicacity  that  indicated  the 
most  complete  acquaintance  with  persons  and  plans. 
The  arrest,  trial  and  execution  of  Rifoe'l  and  his 
accomplices  are  proofs  of  what  we  say,  cited  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  demonstrating  our  certainty;  the 
chancery  office,  we  repeat,  is  more  fully  informed 
than  we  upon  this  matter. 

"If  ever  a  person  condemned  to  death  should 
appeal  to  the  clemency  of  the  sovereign,  is  not 
Henriette  Lechantre  such  a  person? 

"Drawn  on  by  passion,  by  ideas  of  rebellion 
which  she  imbibed  with  her  mother's  milk,  she  is 
certainly  unpardonable  in  the  eyes  of  the  law;  but, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  most  magnanimous  of  emperors, 
will  not  the  most  infamous  treachery,  the  fiercest 
of  all  enthusiasms  plead  her  cause? 

"Will  not  the  greatest  of  captains,  the  immortal 
genius  who  pardoned  the  Prince  von  Hatzfeld,  and 
who  has  the  power  of  divining,  like  God  himself, 


204  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

motives  born  of  the  fallibility  of  the  heart,  will  he 
not  recognize  the  existence  of  the  power,  invincible 
in  youth,  which  tends  to  excuse  this  crime,  great  as 
it  is? 

"Twenty-two  heads  have  already  fallen  beneath 
the  sword  of  justice,  by  virtue  of  the  judgments  of 
three  criminal  courts;  that  of  a  young  woman  of 
twenty,  a  minor,  alone  remains:  will  not  the 
Emperor  Napoleon  the  Great  permit  her  to  live  and 
repent?  Is  she  not  God's  share? 

"For  Henriette  Bryond,  wife  of  Bryond  des 
Tours-Minieres, 

"Her  defender, 

"BORDIN, 

"Solicitor  at  the  Court  of  First  Instance  of  the 
Department  of  the  Seine." 

That  shocking  drama  disturbed  what  little  sleep 
Godefroid  obtained.  He  dreamed  of  capital  punish- 
ment as  imagined  by  the  physician  Guillotin  from 
philanthropic  motives.  Through  the  scorching 
vapors  of  a  nightmare,  he  caught  a  glimpse  of  a 
lovely,  impassioned  young  woman,  submitting  to 
the  final  preparations,  drawn  through  the  streets 
upon  a  tumbril,  ascending  the  scaffold  and  crying: 
Vive  le  roil 

Godefroid  was  consumed  by  curiosity.  He  rose 
at  daybreak,  dressed,  paced  back  and  forth  in  his 
room,  and  finally  glued  his  face  to  his  window, 
gazing  mechanically  at  the  sky  and  reconstructing 
that  drama,  as  a  modern  author  would  do,  in  several 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  205 

volumes.  And  still  he  saw,  against  that  dark  back- 
ground of  Chouans,  country  people,  officers  of  the 
law,  provincial  gentlemen,  rebel  chieftains,  advocates 
and  spies,  the  faces  of  the  mother  and  daughter 
stand  radiantly  forth;  the  daughter  deceiving  her 
mother,  the  daughter  the  victim  of  a  monster,  the 
victim  of  her  passion  for  one  of  those  intrepid  men 
who  were  at  a  later  period  characterized  as  heroes, 
and  in  whom  Godefroid's  imagination  detected  a 
resemblance  to  the  Charettes,  the  Cadoudals,  the 
giants  of  that  conflict  between  the  republic  and  the 
monarchy. 

As  soon  as  Godefroid  heard  Goodman  Alain 
stirring  in  his  room,  he  went  thither;  but,  after 
partly  opening  the  door,  he  returned  to  his  own 
room.  The  old  man  was  kneeling  before  his  prie- 
Dieu,  saying  his  morning  prayers.  The  aspect  of 
that  hoary  head,  bent  low  in  a  profoundly  devout 
attitude,  reminded  Godefroid  of  his  own  neglected 
duties,  and  he  prayed  fervently. 

"I  expected  you,"  said  the  good  man,  when 
Godefroid  entered  his  room  quarter  of  an  hour  later; 
"I  humored  your  impatience  by  rising  earlier  than 
usual." 

"Madame  Henriette? — "  inquired  Godefroid  with 
evident  anxiety. 

"Was  Madame's  daughter,"  the  old  man  replied, 
interrupting  him.  "Madame's  name  is  Lechantre 
de  la  Chanterie.  Under  the  Empire,  neither  titles 
of  nobility  nor  names  added  to  original  family 
names  were  recognized.  Thus  the  Baronne  des 


206  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Tours-Minieres  was  called  Dame  Bryond;  the 
Marquis  d'Esgrignon  resumed  his  name  of  Carol 
and  became  Citizen  Carol,  later  Sieur  Carol;  the 
Troisvilles  became  Sieurs  Guibelin." 

"But  what  happened?  Did  the  Emperor  pardon 
her?" 

"Alas!  no,"  replied  Alain.  "The  ill-fated  little 
woman  died  on  the  scaffold  at  twenty-one.  After 
reading  Bordin's  brief,  the  Emperor  said  almost 
these  words  to  his  chief  judge: 

"  'Why  declaim  against  the  spy?  An  agent  is  no 
longer  a  man,  he  should  cease  to  have  feelings;  he 
is  a  wheel  in  a  machine.  Bryond  did  his  duty.  If 
tools  of  that  sort  were  not  what  they  are,  bars  of 
steel  and  intelligent  only  in  obeying  the  orders  of 
the  power  they  serve,  there  would  be  no  govern- 
ment possible.  The  judgment  of  the  special  criminal 
court  must  be  executed,  otherwise  my  magistrates 
would  have  no  further  confidence  in  themselves  or 
in  me.  Furthermore,  the  common  soldiers  employed 
by  those  people  are  dead,  and  they  were  less 
culpable  than  the  leaders.  Last  of  all,  we  must 
teach  the  women  of  the  West  not  to  meddle  in 
conspiracies.  For  the  very  reason  that  the  defend- 
ant is  a  woman,  the  law  must  take  its  course.  No 
excuse  is  tenable  in  the  face  of  the  interests  of  the 
constituted  authorities.' 

"Such  is  the  substance  of  what  the  chief  judge 
chose  to  repeat  to  Bordin  of  his  interview  with  the 
Emperor.  When  he  learned  that  France  and  Russia 
were  likely  to  measure  swords  with  each  other 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  207 

before  long,  that  the  Emperor  would  be  obliged  to 
go  seven  hundred  leagues  away  from  Paris  to  attack 
a  boundless,  desert  country,  Bordin  understood  the 
real  reasons  of  the  Emperor's  lack  of  clemency. 
To  secure  tranquillity  in  the  West,  which  was 
already  overflowing  with  disaffected  conscripts, 
Napoleon  deemed  it  essential  to  inspire  a  feeling  of 
wholesome  dread.  So  the  chief  judge  advised  the 
solicitor  to  take  no  further  steps  in  behalf  of  his 
clients." 

"Of  his  client?"  said  Godefroid. 

"Madame  de  la  Chanterie  was  sentenced  to 
twenty -two  years'  imprisonment,"  replied  Alain. 
"As  she  had  already  been  transferred  to  Bice'tre, 
near  Rouen,  to  undergo  her  punishment,  there  was 
no  occasion  to  devote  any  attention  to  her  until 
they  had  saved  her  Henriette,  who  had  become  so 
dear  to  her  since  the  ghastly  trial,  that  they  thought 
that  Madame  would  not  have  survived  the  sentence, 
had  not  Bordin  promised  to  obtain  a  remission  of  the 
death  penalty.  So  they  deceived  the  unhappy 
mother.  She  saw  her  daughter  after  the  execution 
of  the  others  who  were  condemned  by  the  same 
judgment,  not  knowing  that  the  respite  was  due  to 
a  false  declaration  of  pregnancy." 

"Ah!  I  understand  it  all!"  cried  Godefroid. 

"No,  my  dear  child;  there  are  things  that  one 
cannot  divine.  For  a  long  while  Madame  believed 
that  her  daughter  was  alive." 

"How  so?" 

"In  this  way.  When  Madame  des  Tours-Minieres 


208  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

learned  from  Bordin  that  her  appeal  for  clemency 
was  denied,  the  sublime  little  woman  had  the 
courage  to  write  a  score  or  more  of  letters,  dated 
from  month  to  month  after  the  date  fixed  for  her 
execution,  in  order  to  make  her  mother  believe  that 
she  was  still  alive  and  to  describe  the  suffering 
caused  by  an  imaginary  illness,  from  its  beginning 
until  her  death.  Those  letters  covered  a  space  of 
two  years.  Thus  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  was 
prepared  for  her  daughter's  death,  but  for  a  death 
from  natural  causes:  she  did  not  learn  that  she  died 
on  the  scaffold  until  1814.  For  two  whole  years 
she  was  confined  with  the  vilest  creatures  of  her 
own  sex,  and  wore  the  prison  garb;  but  after  the 
second  year,  thanks  to  the  persistent  representations 
of  the  Champignelles  and  Beauseants,  she  was 
given  a  private  room,  where  she  lived  like  a  clois- 
tered nun." 

"And  the  others?" 

"Leveille  the  notary,  Herbomez,  Hiley,  Cibot, 
Grenier,  Horeau,  Cabot,  Minard  and  Mallet  were 
sentenced  to  death  and  executed  the  same  day. 
Pannier,  sentenced  to  twenty  years  of  penal  servi- 
tude, as  were  Chaussard  and  Vauthier,  was  branded 
and  sent  to  the  galleys;  but  the  Emperor  pardoned 
Chaussard  and  Vauthier;  Melin,  Laraviniere  and 
Binet  were  sentenced  to  five  years'  imprisonment. 
The  Bourget  woman  was  sentenced  to  twenty-two 
years'  imprisonment.  Chargegrain  and  Rousseau 
were  acquitted.  The  fugitives  from  justice  were 
tried  in  their  absence  and  were  all  sentenced  to 


MADAME   DE   LA  CHANTERIE  209 

death,  except  the  Godard  girl,  who,  as  you  must 
have  guessed,  is  no  other  than  our  good  Manon — 

"Manon!"  cried  Godefroid  in  utter  amazement. 

"Oh!  you  don't  know  Manon  yet!"  rejoined 
honest  Alain.  "The  devoted  creature,  who  was 
sentenced  to  twenty-two  years'  imprisonment,  gave 
herself  up  in  order  to  wait  upon  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  in  prison.  Our  dear  vicar  is  the  priest 
from  Mortagne  who  administered  the  last  sacraments 
to  Madame  la  Baronne  des  Tours-Minieres,  who  had 
the  courage  to  escort  her  to  the  scaffold,  and  to 
whom  she  gave  her  last  farewell  kiss.  The  sub- 
lime and  fearless  priest  had  also  attended  the 
Chevalier  du  Vissard  on  the  scaffold.  Thus  our 
dear  Abbe  de  Veze  was  cognizant  of  all  the  secrets 
of  the  conspirators." 

"I  see  why  his  hair  has  turned  white!"  said 
Godefroid. 

"Alas!"  continued  Alain,  "he  received  from 
Amedee  du  Vissard  a  miniature  of  Madame  des 
Tours-Minieres,  the  only  likeness  of  her  in  existence; 
for  that  reason  he  became  a  sacred  person  in  the 
eyes  of  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  on  the  day  of  her 
honorable  return  to  society." 

"How  did  it  happen  that  she  was  able  to  return?" 
inquired  Godefroid  in  surprise. 

"Why,  at  the  return  of  Louis  XVIII.  in  1814, 
Boislaurier,  Monsieur  de  Boisfrelon's  younger 
brother,  had  orders  from  the  king  to  incite  a  rising 
in  the  West  in  1809,  and  again  in  1812.  The 
family  name  is  Dubut,  the  Dubut  of  Caen  is  their 
14 


210  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

kinsman.  There  were  three  brothers:  Dubut  de 
Boisfranc,  president  of  the  Court  of  Aids;  Dubut  de 
Boisfrelon,  counselor  of  Parliament,  and  Dubut- 
Boislaurier,  captain  of  dragoons.  The  father  gave 
his  sons  the  names  of  three  different  estates, 
attempting  to  make  of  them  stepping-stones  to 
patents  of  nobility,  for  the  grandfather  of  the  Dubuts 
was  a  linen-draper.  The  Dubut  of  Caen,  who 
succeeded  in  making  his  escape,  belonged  to  that 
branch  of  the  Dubuts  which  had  remained  in  busi- 
ness, and  he  hoped,  by  his  devotion  to  the  royal 
cause,  to  succeed  to  the  title  of  Monsieur  de  Bois- 
franc. And  Louis  XVIII.  satisfied  the  ambition  of 
that  loyal  servitor,  who  became  Grand  Provost  in 
1815,  and  later  procureur-general  under  the  name 
of  Boisfranc;  he  died  first  president  of  a  royal  court. 
The  Marquis  du  Vissard,  the  poor  chevalier's  elder 
brother,  was  created  a  peer  of  France  and  over- 
whelmed with  honors  by  the  king;  he  was  appointed 
a  lieutenant  in  the  Maison  Rouge  and  prefect  after 
the  disbandment  of  the  Maison  Rouge.  Monsieur 
d'Herbomez'sbrotherwasmadeacount  and  receiver- 
general.  The  unfortunate  banker  Pannier  died  of 
grief  at  the  galleys.  Boislaurier  died,  childless,  a 
lieutenant-general  and  governor  of  a  royal  chateau. 
Messieurs  de  Champignelles,  De  Beauseant,  the 
Due  de  Verneuil  and  the  Keeper  of  the  Seals  pre- 
sented Madame  de  la  Chanterie  to  the  king. 

"  'You  have  suffered  bitterly  enough  in  my  behalf, 
Madame  la  Baronne;  you  have  a  just  claim  to  all 
my  favor  and  all  my  gratitude/  he  said  to  her. 


MADAME  DE   LA  CHANTERIE  211 

"  'Sire,'  she  replied,  'Your  Majesty  has  so  many 
sorrows  to  console  that  I  have  no  desire  to  burden 
you  with  the  weight  of  an  inconsolable  sorrow.  To 
live  in  oblivion,  to  weep  for  my  daughter  and  to  do 
good,  that  is  my  life.  If  anything  can  lighten  my 
suffering,  it  is  the  kindness  of  my  king,  the  pleasure 
of  seeing  that  Providence  has  not  caused  so  much 
devotion  to  go  for  naught.' ' 

"And  what  did  Louis  XVIII.  do?"  asked  Gode- 
froid. 

"The  king  ordered  the  restitution  of  two  hundred 
thousand  francs  to  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  for  the 
estate  of  Saint-Savin  was  sold  for  taxes,"  replied 
the  good  man.  "The  pardon  granted  to  Madame  la 
Baronne  and  her  servant  expressed  the  king's  regret 
for  the  suffering  endured  in  his  service,  admitting 
that  the  %eal  of  his  servitors  had  gone  somewhat  too 
far  in  the  selection  of  methods  of  carrying  out  their 
plans;  but,  it  is  a  deplorable  fact,  and  one  which 
will  seem  to  you  to  illustrate  a  most  curious  feature 
in  that  monarch's  character,  that  he  employed 
Bryond  in  his  secret  police  throughout  his  reign." 

"Oh!  these  kings!  these  kings!"  cried  Godefroid. 
"And  is  the  villain  still  alive?" 

"No.  The  miserable  wretch,  who  had  the  grace 
to  conceal  his  name  under  that  of  Contenson,  died 
in  the  latter  part  of  1829  or  early  in  1830.  While 
arresting  a  criminal  who  tried  to  escape  over  the 
roof  of  a  house,  he  fell  into  the  street.  Louis  XVIII. 
agreed  with  Napoleon's  ideas  concerning  the  police. 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  is  a  saint,  she  prays  for 


212  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

that  monster's  soul  and  pays  for  two  masses  a  year 
for  him.  Although  she  was  defended  by  the  father 
of  a  great  orator  and  by  one  of  the  famous  advocates 
of  the  time,  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  who  knew 
nothing  of  her  daughter's  danger  until  she  brought 
the  money  to  Saint-Savin,  and  then  only  because 
she  was  told  by  her  kinsman  Boislaurier,  could 
never  establish  her  innocence.  President  du 
Ronceret  and  Vice-president  Blondet  of  the  court  at 
Alencon  tried  in  vain  to  save  our  poor  lady;  the 
influence  of  the  counselor  from  the  imperial  court 
who  presided  at  the  special  criminal  session,  the 
famous  Mergi, — afterward  procureur-general  and  a 
fanatical  partisan  of  the  altar  and  the  throne,  who 
caused  more  than  one  Bonapartist  head  to  fall — his 
influence  over  his  two  colleagues  was  so  great  that 
he  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  conviction  of  the  poor 
Baronne  de  la  Chanterie.  Messieurs  Bourlac  and 
Mergi  displayed  extraordinary  vindictiveness  at  the 
trial.  The  president  called  the  Baronne  des  Tours- 
Minieres,  the  Bryond  woman,  and  Madame,  the 
Lechantre  woman.  The  names  of  all  the  accused 
were  made  to  conform  to  the  republican  system  and 
almost  all  of  them  were  distorted.  The  details  of 
the  trial  were  most  extraordinary  and  I  do  not 
remember  them  all;  but  I  do  recall  one  audacious 
stroke  which  will  serve  to  show  you  what  sort  of 
men  those  Chouans  were.  The  crowd  that  tried  to 
witness  the  trial  surpassed  anything  that  your 
imagination  can  conceive;  it  filled  the  corridors  and 
overflowed  upon  the  public  square,  reminding  one 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  213 

of  the  crowd  on  fair  days.  One  day,  at  the  opening 
of  the  session  and  before  the  arrival  of  the  court, 
Pille-Miche,  the  famous  Chouan,  leaped  over  the 
railing  into  the  midst  of  the  audience,  worked  his 
way  with  his  elbows,  mingled  with  the  crowd  and 
was  borne  along  with  the  waves  of  terrified  people, 
butting  like  a  wild  boar,  so  Bordin  told  me.  The 
gendarmes  and  the  keepers  rushed  after  him  and  he 
was  recaptured  on  the  stairway  within  a  step  of  the 
square.  That  bold  stroke  led  to  the  doubling  of  the 
guard.  A  picket  of  gendarmes  was  ordered  to  be 
stationed  on  the  square,  for  they  feared  that  there 
might  be  Chouans  in  the  crowd  ready  to  give  aid 
and  shelter  to  the  defendants.  Three  persons  were 
crushed  to  death  in  the  crowd  as  a  result  of  that 
attempt.  Afterwards  it  was  known  that  Contenson 
— like  my  old  friend  Bordin,  I  cannot  make  up  my 
mind  to  call  him  Baron  des  Tours-Minieres,  nor  even 
Bryond,  which  is  an  old  and  honorable  name — it 
was  known,  I  say,  that  that  villain  appropriated 
and  squandered  sixty  thousand  francs  of  the  stolen 
money;  he  gave  ten  thousand  to  young  Chaussard, 
whom  he  inveigled  into  the  police,  inoculating  him 
with  his  tastes  and  his  vices;  but  no  one  of  his 
accomplices  was  fortunate.  Chaussard  was  pushed 
into  the  sea  by  Monsieur  de  Boislaurier,  as  soon  as 
he  learned  by  a  line  from  Pannier,  of  the  treachery 
of  that  knave,  whom  Contenson  had  advised  to 
rejoin  the  fugitive  conspirators,  in  order  to  spy  upon 
them.  Vauthier  was  killed  in  Paris,  by  one  of  the 
Chevalier  du  Vissard's  obscure  and  devoted  partisans, 


214  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

I  have  no  doubt.  The  younger  Chaussard  was 
assassinated  in  one  of  the  nocturnal  broils  pecu- 
liar to  the  police;  it  is  probable  that  Contenson 
chose  to  rid  himself  of  his  demands  or  his  remorse 
by  recommending  him  for  prayers,  as  the  saying  is. 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  invested  her  money  in  the 
public  funds  and  purchased  this  house,  in  order  to 
comply  with  the  desire  of  her  uncle,  the  old  coun- 
selor De  Boisfrelon,  who  gave  her  the  requisite 
money  for  the  purchase.  This  quiet  quarter  was 
near  the  archbishopric,  where  our  dear  abbe  had  a 
position  with  the  cardinal.  That  was  Madame's 
principal  reason  for  not  refusing  to  gratify  the 
wishes  of  the  old  man,  whose  fortune,  after  twenty- 
five  years  of  revolution,  was  reduced  to  six  thousand 
francs  a  year.  Moreover,  Madame  desired  to  lead 
an  almost  monastic  life  as  a  fitting  sequel  to  the 
horrible  misery  that  had  overwhelmed  her  for 
twenty-six  years.  You  ought  now  to  be  able  to 
appreciate  the  majesty,  the  grandeur  of  this  august 
victim — I  venture  so  to  characterize  her." 

"Yes,"  replied  Godefroid,  "the  marks  of  all  the 
blows  she  has  received  impart  an  indefinable  touch 
of  grandeur  and  majesty  to  her  appearance." 

"Every  wound,  every  fresh  blow  has  seemed  to 
redouble  her  patience  and  resignation,"  continued 
Alain;  "but,  if  you  knew  her  as  we  know  her,  if 
you  knew  how  keenly  sensitive  she  is,  how  restless 
the  inexhaustible  tenderness  that  flows  from  her 
heart,  you  would  be  afraid  to  count  the  tears  she 
has  shed,  the  fervent  prayers  she  has  addressed  to 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  215 

God.  One  must,  like  her,  have  known  only  a  brief 
season  of  happiness,  to  be  able  to  resist  so  many 
violent  shocks!  She  has  a  tender  heart,  a  gentle 
soul  enclosed  in  a  body  of  steel,  hardened  by 
privation,  by  toil,  by  rigid  penance." 

"Her  life  explains  the  long  lives  of  hermits,"  said 
Godefroid. 

"On  certain  days  I  ask  myself  what  can  be  the 
meaning  of  such  a  life.  Does  God  reserve  these 
last,  cruel  trials  for  those  of  His  creatures  who  are 
to  sit  beside  Him  on  the  morrow  of  their  death?" 
said  Goodman  Alain,  unaware  that  he  was  ingenu- 
ously expressing  Swedenborg's  whole  doctrine 
concerning  the  angels. 

"What!"  cried  Godefroid,  "Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie  was  compelled  to  mingle  with — " 

"Madame  was  sublime  in  prison,"  replied  Alain. 
"In  the  course  of  three  years  she  verified  the  story 
of  the  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  for  she  converted  several 
of  the  unfortunate  women  by  whom  she  was 
surrounded.  During  her  detention,  as  she  observed 
the  morals  of  her  fellow-prisoners,  she  was  seized 
with  that  immense  pity  for  the  sorrows  of  the 
people,  which  still  oppresses  her  and  which  makes 
of  her  the  queen  of  Parisian  charity.  In  that 
frightful  Bic£tre  at  Rouen,  she  conceived  the  plan 
to  whose  execution  we  have  devoted  ourselves.  It 
was,  as  she  says,  a  delightful  dream,  an  angelic 
inspiration  in  the  midst  of  hell;  she  had  no  idea  that 
she  could  ever  realize  it.  Here  in  this  house,  in 
1819,  when  tranquillity  seemed  to  be  re-established 


2l6  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

in  Paris,  she  recurred  to  her  dream.  Madame  la 
Duchesse  d'Angouleme,  later  the  Dauphiness,  the 
Duchesse  de  Berri,  the  archbishop,  afterward  the 
chancellor,  and  some  piously-disposed  persons  lib- 
erally provided  the  first  sums  that  were  necessary. 
This  fund  was  increased  by  the  alienable  portions 
of  our  revenues,  from  which  each  of  us  draws  only 
what  is  absolutely  necessary  for  his  personal  use." 

Tears  came  to  Godefroid's  eyes. 

"We  are  the  loyal  instruments  of  a  Christian 
idea,  and  we  belong  body  and  soul  to  the-work  of 
which  Madame  de  la  Chanterie,  whom  you  hear  us 
call  Madame  so  respectfully,  is  the  foundress  and 
the  inspiration." 

"Ah!  I  will  be  with  you  heart  and  soul,"  said 
Godefroid,  holding  out  his  hands  to  his  host. 

"Do  you  understand  now  that  there  are  some 
subjects  of  conversation  absolutely  forbidden,  even 
by  allusion?"  continued  the  old  man.  "Do  you 
understand  the  obligations  of  courtesy  which  every 
inmate  of  this  house  contracts  toward  her  whom  we 
look  upon  as  a  saint?  Do  you  understand  the 
fascination  wielded  by  a  woman  made  sacred  by  so 
many  misfortunes,  who  knows  so  many  things,  to 
whom  all  forms  of  misfortune  have  said  their  last 
word,  who  has  learned  some  lesson  from  every 
hardship,  all  whose  virtues  have  had  the  twofold 
sanction  of  the  severest  tests  and  constant  practice, 
and  whose  soul  is  without  stain,  without  reproach; 
who  has  known  only  the  sorrows  of  maternity, 
only  the  bitterness  of  conjugal  love;  upon  whom 


MADAME  DE  LA  CHANTERIE  217 

life  smiled  only  for  a  few  short  months,  for  whom, 
doubtless,  heaven  has  in  store  some  reward  for  the 
gentle  resignation  she  has  exhibited  under  such  a 
burden  of  grief?  Is  she  not  superior  to  Job  in  that 
she  has  never  murmured?  Are  you  surprised  now 
to  find  her  words  so  weighty,  her  old  age  so 
youthful,  her  soul  so  communicative,  her  glance  so 
persuasive?  She  has  acquired  an  enormous  power 
over  the  woes  of  others,  for  she  has  known  woe  in 
every  conceivable  form.  All  suffering  holds  its 
peace  in  her  presence." 

"She  is  a  living  image  of  charity!"  cried  Godefroid 
enthusiastically.  "Shall  I  be  one  of  you?" 

"You  must  submit  to  the  tests,  and,  before  all 
things,  HAVE  FAITH!"  exclaimed  the  old  man  gently. 
"So  long  as  you  have  not  faith,  so  long  as  you  have 
not  absorbed  in  your  heart  and  your  mind  the  divine 
meaning  of  the  Epistle  of  St.  Paul  concerning 
charity,  you  cannot  take  part  in  our  work." 

Paris,  1843-1845. 


SECOND  EPISODE 

THE   NOVICE 


(219) 


THE  NOVICE 
* 

The  sublimely  good  is  contagious  no  less  than  the 
bad.  So  it  was  that,  when  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie's  lodger  had  lived  a  few  months  in  that 
venerable,  silent  house,  after  Goodman  Alain's  last 
confidential  disclosures,  which  inspired  in  him  the 
most  profound  respect  for  the  quasi-monks  among 
whom  his  lot  was  cast,  he  felt  that  well-being  of  the 
soul  which  is  due  to  a  regular  life,  orderly  habits 
and  harmony  in  the  characters  of  those  about  us. 
In  four  months,  Godefroid,  who  had  not  in  afl  that 
time  heard  an  angry  exclamation  or  a  dispute, 
confessed  to  himself  that  he  could  not  remember 
that  he  had  been  so  absolutely  at  peace,  if  not 
precisely  happy,  since  he  had  been  old  enough  to 
reason.  He  judged  the  world  accurately,  looking 
at  it  from  a  distance.  In  due  time  the  desire  he 
had  cherished  for  three  months  to  be  admitted  to  a 
share  in  the  work  of  those  mysterious  persons, 
became  a  passion;  and  any  man,  even  though  he 
be  not  a  great  philosopher,  can  guess  how  strong 
the  passions  become  in  solitude. 

One  day  therefore, — a  day  invested  with  solemnity 

because  of  the  omnipotence  of  the  mind, — having 

probed  his  heart  and  taken  counsel  of  his  strength, 

Godefroid  went  upstairs  to  Goodman  Alain,  whom 

(221) 


222  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

Madame  de  la  Chanterie  called  her  lamb,  and  who 
seemed  to  him  to  be  the  least  imposing,  the  most 
approachable  of  all  his  fellow-boarders,  with  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  from  him  some  information  as 
to  the  conditions  of  admission  to  the  priesthood 
which  he  and  his  brethren  in  God,  if  we  may  call 
them  so,  exercised  in  Paris.  The  allusions  already 
made  to  a  period  of  trial  seemed  to  point  to  some 
form  of  initiation,  for  which  he  was  waiting. 
His  curiosity  had  not  been  satisfied  by  what 
the  venerable  old  man  had  told  him  concerning 
the  reasons  of  his  admission  to  a  share  in  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie's  work,  and  he  wished  to  know 
more  about  it. 

For  the  third  time,  Godefroid  found  himself  in 
Goodman  Alain's  presence  at  half-past  ten  at  night, 
just  as  the  old  man  was  about  to  read  his  chapter  of 
the  Imitation.  That  time  the  gentle-souled  apostle 
could  not  refrain  from  smiling  when  he  saw  the 
young  man,  and  he  said  to  him,  without  giving  him 
an  opportunity  to  speak: 

"Why  do  you  apply  to  me,  my  dear  boy,  instead 
of  applying  to  Madame?  I  am  the  most  ignorant, 
the  least  clever,  the  most  imperfect  member  of  the 
household. — These  last  three  days  Madame  and  all 
my  friends  have  been  reading  your  heart,"  he 
added  with  a  sly  expression. 

"And  what  have  they  found  there?"  queried 
Godefroid. 

"Ah!"  replied  the  old  man  without  attempting  to 
evade  the  question,  "they  have  detected  in  you  a 


THE  NOVICE  223 

sincere  longing  to  belong  to  our  little  flock.  But 
that  sentiment  has  not  as  yet  become  a  thoroughly 
earnest  vocation  in  you.  Yes,"  he  continued 
hastily,  in  response  to  a  gesture  from  Godefroid, 
"your  curiosity  exceeds  your  fervor.  In  short,  you 
have  not  so  entirely  cut  loose  from  your  former 
ideas  that  you  have  not  fancied  that  there  might  be 
something  adventurous,  romantic,  as  they  say,  in 
the  incidents  of  our  life." 

Godefroid  could  not  help  blushing. 

"You  fancy  that  there  is  a  similarity  between  our 
occupations  and  those  of  the  caliphs  in  the  Thousand 
and  One  Nights,  and  you  experience,  in  anticipation, 
a  sort  of  satisfaction  in  playing  the  part  of  a  good 
genius  in  the  romantic  tales  of  benevolence  which 
you  amuse  yourself  by  inventing! — Ah!  my  son, 
your  confused  smile  proves  that  we  have  made  no 
mistake.  How  do  you  suppose  that  you  can  conceal 
a  feeling  from  people  whose  profession  it  is  to  divine 
the  most  secret  impulses  of  the  mind,  the  wiles  of 
poverty,  the  scheming  of  want,  and  who  are  in 
reality  honorable  spies,  doing  the  good  Lord's 
police  duty,  judges  of  long  experience,  whose  code 
contains  only  absolution,  doctors  for  all  varieties  of 
disease,  whose  only  remedy  is  money  judiciously 
employed?  But,  you  see,  my  child,  we  make  no 
quarrel  with  the  motives  which  bring  us  a  neophyte, 
provided  that  he  remains  with  us  and  becomes  a 
brother  in  our  order.  We  will  judge  you  at  work. 
There  are  two  sorts  of  curiosity,  curiosity  concern- 
ing good  and  concerning  evil;  at  this  moment  you 


224  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

have  the  former.  If  you  are  to  be  a  laborer  in  our 
vineyard,  the  juice  of  the  grapes  will  make  you 
constantly  hunger  for  the  divine  fruit.  The  initia- 
tion is,  as  in  all  natural  science,  easy  in  appearance, 
hard  in  reality.  It  is  with  charity  as  with  poetry. 
Nothing  is  easier  than  to  acquire  the  appearance  of 
it.  But  here,  as  on  Parnassus,  we  are  content  with 
nothing  short  of  perfection.  To  become  one  of  us, 
you  must  obtain  an  extended  knowledge  of  life,  and 
of  such  life,  great  God!  of  Parisian  life,  which  defies 
the  craft  of  Monsieur  le  Prefet  de  Police  and  his 
associates.  Have  we  not  to  defeat  the  permanent 
conspiracy  of  evil,  to  follow  it  through  all  its  forms, 
which  change  so  frequently  that  you  would  believe 
there  was  no  end  to  them?  Charity,  in  Paris,  must 
be  as  knowing  as  vice,  just  as  the  police  agent  must 
be  as  crafty  as  the  thief.  Each  one  of  us  has  to  be 
straightforward  and  suspicious,  to  have  a  judgment 
as  unerring  and  swift  as  the  glance.  So  it  is,  my 
child,  that  we  are  all  old,  aged  beyond  our  years; 
but  we  are  so  well  satisfied  with  the  results  we 
have  obtained  that  we  do  not  wish  to  die  and  leave 
no  successors;  and  you  are  the  dearer  to  us  all 
because  you  will  be,  if  you  persevere,  our  first  pupil. 
In  our  view  there  is  no  such  thing  as  chance,  we 
are  indebted  to  God  for  you!  Yours  is  an  excellent 
nature,  soured  by  misfortune;  and  since  you  have 
lived  here  the  leaven  of  evil  has  lost  some  of  its 
strength.  Madame's  divine  nature  has  had  its  effect 
on  you.  Yesterday  we  held  a  council;  and,  as  I 
have  your  confidence,  my  good  brethren  have 


THE  NOVICE  225 

decided  to  give  you  myself  as  teacher  and  guide. 
Are  you  content?" 

"Ah!  my  dear  Monsieur  Alain,  with  your  elo- 
quence you  have  awakened  a — " 

"It  is  not  I  who  am  eloquent,  my  child,  but  the 
circumstances  under  which  I  speak.  One  is  always 
sure  of  being  great  when  obeying  God  and  imitating 
Jesus  Christ,  in  so  far  as  man  can  with  the  assistance 
of  faith." 

"This  moment  has  decided  my  future,"  cried 
Godefroid;  "I  feel  all  the  ardor  of  a  neophyte!  I 
too  am  determined  to  pass  my  life  in  doing  good." 

"That  is  the  secret  of  remaining  in  the  peace  of 
God,"  replied  the  good  man.  "Have  you  studied 
the  motto:  Transire  benefaciendo?  It  means,  to  go 
from  this  world  leaving  a  long  train  of  benefactions 
behind  you." 

"I  understand,  and  I  have  myself  hung  the  motto 
of  the  order  opposite  my  bed." 

"That  was  well  done.  That  action,  so  trivial  in 
itself,  is  of  much  importance  in  my  eyes!  Well,  my 
child,  I  have  your  first  case  already,  your  first  duel 
with  misery,  and  I  am  going  to  put  your  foot  in  the 
stirrup. — We  are  about  to  part. — Yes,  I  myself  am 
detailed  to  leave  the  convent  and  take  up  my  abode 
in  the  heart  of  a  volcano.  I  am  about  to  become 
superintendent  of  a  large  factory  where  all  the 
workmen  are  infected  with  communistic  doctrines 
and  dream  of  overthrowing  society  and  murdering 
their  masters,  having  no  idea  that  that  would  mean 
the  death  of  commerce,  manufacturing  and  factories. 
15 


226  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

— I  shall  remain  there,  who  can  say  how  long? 
perhaps  a  year,  acting  as  cashier  and  book-keeper, 
and  finding  my  way  into  a  hundred  or  a  hundred 
and  twenty  households  of  poor  wretches,  who  were 
led  astray  by  want  doubtless  before  they  began  to 
read  bad  books.  However,  we  shall  meet  every 
Sunday  and  every  holiday.  As  we  shall  live  in  the 
same  quarter,  I  suggest  the  church  of  Saint- Jacques 
du  Haut-Pas  as  a  rendezvous:  I  shall  attend  mass 
there  every  day  at  half-past  seven  in  the  morning. 
If  you  meet  me  elsewhere,  you  will  never  recognize 
me  unless  you  see  me  rubbing  my  hands  like  a  man 
in  a  contented  frame  of  mind.  That  is  one  of  our 
signals.  Like  deaf-mutes,  we  have  a  sign  language, 
the  necessity  of  which  will  be  speedily  and  most 
convincingly  demonstrated  to  you." 

Godefroid  made  a  gesture  which  the  good  man 
understood,  for  he  smiled  and  at  once  continued: 

"Now,  this  is  your  affair.  We  do  not  practice 
the  kind  of  benevolence  and  philanthropy  with 
which  you  are  familiar,  divided  into  several  depart- 
ments managed  for  their  own  benefit  by  honest 
sharpers,  like  so  many  business  enterprises;  but  we 
practice  charity  as  it  is  defined  by  our  great  and 
sublime  St.  Paul;  for  we  believe,  my  child,  that 
charity  alone  can  heal  the  sores  of  Paris.  And  so, 
misfortune,  want,  suffering,  grief,  disease,  from 
whatever  cause  they  proceed,  in  whatever  class  of 
society  they  manifest  themselves,  have  the  same 
rights  in  our  eyes.  Whatever  his  belief  or  his  opin- 
ions, an  unfortunate  is,  first  of  all,  an  unfortunate; 


THE   NOVICE  227 

and  we  do  not  seek  to  turn  his  face  toward  our 
holy  mother  Church  until  we  have  saved  him 
from  despair  or  starvation.  And  even  then  we  seek 
to  convert  him  rather  by  example  and  by  gentleness 
than  otherwise;  for  we  believe  that  God  assists  us 
therein.  Any  sort  of  constraint  therefore  is  ill- 
advised.  Of  all  forms  of  misery  in  Paris,  the  most 
difficult  to  discover  and  the  bitterest  is  the  misery 
of  honest  people,  of  the  higher  class  of  bourgeois, 
whose  families  have  become  impoverished,  for  they 
make  it  a  point  of  honor  to  conceal  it.  Such  cases, 
my  dear  Godefroid,  are  the  objects  of  our  special 
solicitude.  Indeed,  the  persons  we  assist  possess 
intelligence  and  heart,  they  repay  with  interest  the 
sums  we  have  lent  them;  and  those  repayments 
cover  the  losses  we  incur  with  the  helpless,  the 
knaves,  and  those  whom  misfortune  has  made 
stupid.  Sometimes  we  obtain  information  from  our 
own  debtors;  but  our  work  has  become  so  extensive, 
the  details  are  so  multitudinous,  that  we  are  no 
longer  able  to  attend  to  everything.  So  for  seven 
or  eight  months  we  have  had  a  physician  in  our 
employ  in  each  arrondissement  of  Paris.  Each  of 
us  has  charge  of  four  arrondissements.  We  pay 
each  physician  three  thousand  francs  a  year  to  look 
after  our  poor.  We  have  the  first  claim  on  his  time 
and  his  services,  but  we  do  not  forbid  his  attending 
other  patients.  Would  you  believe  that  we  were 
not  able  to  find  the  twelve  men  that  we  needed, 
twelve  worthy  men,  in  eight  months,  notwithstand- 
ing the  resources  afforded  by  our  friends  and  by  our 


228  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

own  extended  acquaintance!  Of  course  we  must 
have  persons  of  absolute  discretion,  of  pure  morals, 
of  tried  skill,  energetic  and  fond  of  doing  good, 
must  we  not?  Well,  although  there  are  in  Paris 
ten  thousand  men  more  or  less  adapted  to  our  needs, 
we  did  not  fall  in  with  the  twelve  elect  for  nearly  a 
year." 

"Our  Saviour  had  difficulty  in  collecting  His 
apostles,  and  even  then  a  traitor  and  an  unbeliever 
wormed  himself  in  among  them!"  said  Godefroid. 

"However,  within  a  fortnight  our  arrondissements 
have  all  been  provided  with  visitors,"  continued  the 
good  man  with  a  smile;  "that  is  the  name  we  give 
to  our  physicians;  likewise,  within  a  fortnight,  we 
have  had  an  increased  number  of  applications;  but 
we  redouble  our  activity. — My  reason  for  confiding 
to  you  this  secret  of  our  rapidly  growing  order  is 
that  you  will  have  to  know  the  physician  of  the 
arrondissement  to  which  you  are  going,  especially 
as  your  information  will  come  from  him.  His  name 
is  Berton,  Doctor  Berton,  and  he  lives  on  Rue 
d'Enfer.  Now,  this  is  the  case.  Doctor  Berton  is 
attending  a  woman  whose  disease  defies  science,  so 
to  speak.  That  does  not  concern  us,  but  the  medi- 
cal profession;  our  business  is  to  discover  the  truth 
as  to  the  destitute  condition  of  that  sick  woman's 
family,  which  the  doctor  suspects  to  be  most  horrible, 
but  which  is  concealed  with  a  determination  and 
pride  that  require  us  to  exert  our  best  efforts. 
Formerly,  I  should  have  been  equal  to  the  task,  my 
child;  but  to-day  the  work  to  which  my  life  is 


THE  NOVICE  229 

devoted  requires  an  assistant  for  my  four  arron- 
dissements,  and  you  are  to  be  that  assistant.  Our 
family  lives  on  Rue  Notre-Dame  des  Champs,  in  a 
house  looking  on  Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnasse. 
You  must  find  a  room  to  let  in  that  house,  and  try 
to  find  out  the  truth  while  you  live  there.  Be 
economical  to  the  point  of  sordid  avarice  so  far  as 
your  own  expenses  are  concerned,  but  do  not  dis- 
turb yourself  about  the  money  to  be  given  away:  I 
will  hand  you  such  sums  as  we  deem  necessary 
between  ourselves,  after  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  circumstances.  But  study  carefully  the 
moral  qualities  of  the  unfortunate  creatures.  Nobility 
of  feeling,  an  upright  heart — those  are  our  pledges! 
Misers  toward  ourselves,  generous  to  the  suffering, 
we  are  bound  to  be  prudent  and  even  to  calculate 
very  closely,  for  we  are  drawing  on  the  treasure  of 
the  poor.  So  to-morrow  morning  go  and  reflect 
upon  the  great  power  placed  in  your  hands.  The 
brethren  are  with  you!" 

"Ah!"  cried  Godefroid,  "you  give  me  such 
pleasure  in  the  thought  of  doing  good  and  of  being 
worthy  to  belong  to  you  some  day,  that  I  really  shall 
not  be  able  to  sleep." 

"By  the  way,  my  child,  one  last  injunction!  The 
order  not  to  recognize  me  without  the  signal  applies 
equally  to  the  other  gentlemen,  to  Madame,  and 
even  to  the  servants  in  the  house.  It  is  a  necessary 
part  of  the  absolute  incognito  which  is  essential  in 
our  undertakings,  and  we  are  so  often  obliged  to 
resort  to  it  that  we  have  made  it  a  law.  Furthermore 


230  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

we  desire  to  remain  unknown,  lost  to  sight,  in 
Paris.  Remember  also,  dear  Godefroid,  the  guiding 
principle  of  our  order,  which  is  never  to  appear  as 
benefactors,  but  to  assume  an  obscure  role,  that  of 
intermediaries.  We  always  represent  ourselves  as 
the  agents  of  a  devout,  saintly  person — are  we  not 
working  for  God? — so  that  nobody  may  feel  obliged 
to  be  grateful  to  us  or  take  us  for  people  of  wealth. 
True,  sincere  humility,  not  the  false  humility  of 
those  who  efface  themselves  in  order  to  be  forced 
into  the  light,  should  inspire  your  actions  and 
govern  all  your  thoughts.  You  may  well  be  content 
with  success;  but,  so  long  as  you  are  conscious  of  a 
feeling  of  vanity  or  pride,  you  will  not  be  worthy  to 
enter  the  order.  We  have  known  two  perfect 
men:  one,  who  was  one  of  our  founders,  the 
magistrate  Popinot;  as  for  the  other,  who  revealed 
himself  by  his  works,  he  was  a  country  physician 
who  has  left  his  name  written  in  a  country  district. 
He,  my  dear  Godefroid,  was  one  of  the  greatest 
men  of  our  time;  he  converted  a  whole  canton  from 
irreligion  to  Catholicism,  from  the  wild  state  to 
prosperity,  from  barbarism  to  civilization.  The 
names  of  those  two  men  are  engraved  in  our  hearts, 
and  we  keep  them  before  our  minds  as  models. 
We  should  be  very  happy  if  we  could  exert  some 
day  in  Paris  the  influence  that  that  country  doctor 
exerted  in  his  canton.  But  here  the  sore  is  of  vast 
extent  and  beyond  our  strength  at  the  present  time. 
May  God  spare  Madame  to  us  for  a  long  time  to 
come,  may  He  send  us  a  few  such  assistants  as 


THE   NOVICE  231 

you,  and  then  perhaps  we  shall  leave  behind  us  an 
institution  that  will  cause  His  holy  religion  to  be 
blessed!  Well,  adieu. — Your  initiation  is  beginning. 
I  chatter  away  like  a  professor,  and  I  am  forgetting 
the  most  important  thing:  see,  here  is  the  address 
of  the  family,"  he  said,  handing  Godefroid  a  slip  of 
paper;  "I  have  added  the  number  of  the  house 
where  Monsieur  Berton  lives  on  Rue  d'Enfer.  Now 
go,  and  pray  God  to  assist  you." 

Godefroid  took  the  excellent  old  man's  hands  and 
pressed  them  warmly,  as  he  bade  him  good-night 
and  promised  to  observe  all  his  injunctions. 

"Everything  that  you  have  said  to  me,"  he 
added,  "is  engraved  in  my  memory  for  my  whole 
life." 

The  old  man  smiled,  saying  nothing  to  imply  any 
incredulity,  and  rose  to  go  and  kneel  before  his 
prie-Dieu.  Godefroid  returned  to  his  room,  over- 
joyed to  have  a  share  at  last  in  the  mysteries  of 
that  household  and  to  have  an  occupation  which,  in 
his  then  frame  of  mind,  was  a  pleasure. 

The  next  morning,  at  breakfast,  good  Alain  was 
missing,  but  Godefroid  made  no  allusion  to  the 
cause  of  his  absence;  nor  was  he  questioned  con- 
cerning the  mission  the  old  man  had  entrusted  to 
him;  thus  he  received  his  first  lesson  in  discretion. 
After  breakfast,  however,  he  took  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie  aside  and  told  her  that  he  should  be 
absent  for  some  days. 

"It  is  well,  my  child,"  replied  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie.  "Try  to  do  honor  to  your  sponsor, 


232  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

for  Monsieur  Alain  has  answered  for  you  to  his 
brethren." 

Godefroid  said  adieu  to  the  other  three  brethren, 
who  returned  his  salutation  affectionately,  seeming 
thereby  to  ask  a  blessing  on  his  first  step  in  that 
difficult  career. 

Association,  which  is  one  of  the  greatest  of  social 
forces  and  which  made  the  Europe  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  rests  upon  sentiments  which,  since  1792,  have 
not  existed  in  France,  where  the  individual  has 
triumphed  over  the  State.  Association  demands, 
first  of  all,  a  devoted  nature  which  is  not  understood 
in  France;  in  the  second  place,  an  unquestioning 
faith  which  is  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  the  nation; 
and  lastly  a  rigid  discipline,  against  which  every- 
body rebels  and  which  the  Catholic  religion  alone 
can  enforce.  As  soon  as  an  association  is  formed 
in  our  country,  each  member,  upon  returning  home 
from  a  meeting  at  which  the  noblest  sentiments 
have  been  expressed,  thinks  about  making  free  use 
of  that  collective  devotion,  of  that  assemblage  of 
forces,  and  he  exerts  his  ingenuity  to  find  ways  of 
milking  the  common  cow  for  his  own  benefit;  and 
the  poor  beast,  unable  to  meet  the  demands  of  so 
much  individual  cunning,  dies  of  exhaustion. 

No  one  knows  how  many  generous  sentiments 
have  been  withered,  how  many  flourishing  seeds 
have  perished,  how  many  energetic  intellects  have 
been  shattered,  lost  to  the  country,  by  the  infamous 
deceptions  of  the  French  Charbonnerie*  by  the 

*  A  political  society  formed  in  France  under  the  Restoration. 


THE  NOVICE  233 

patriotic  subscriptions  to  the  Champ  cTAsile*  and 
other  political  frauds,  which  were  represented  to  be 
great  and  noble  dramas  and  which  proved  to  be 
nothing  more  than  police  court  vaudevilles.  It  was 
the  same  with  industrial  associations  as  with 
political  associations.  Love  of  self  was  substituted 
for  love  of  the  association.  The  corporations  and 
merchant  guilds  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to  which  we 
shall  at  some  time  return,  are  impossible  as  yet;  so 
that  the  only  SOCIETIES  which  still  exist  are  the 
religious  institutions,  upon  which  fierce  war  is  being 
waged  at  this  moment;  for  it  is  the  natural  tendency 
of  a  patient  to  attack  the  medicine  and  often  the 
doctor.  France  knows  nothing  of  self-abnegation. 
So  it  is  that  no  association  can  live  except  by  virtue 
of  the  sentiment  of  religion,  the  only  sentiment  that 
subdues  rebellions  of  the  mind,  the  scheming  of 
ambition,  and  greed  of  every  sort  Seekers  after 
new  worlds  do  not  know  that  association  has  worlds 
to  give  away. 

As  he  walked  through  the  streets  Godefroid  felt 
like  an  entirely  different  man.  One  who  could 
have  read  his  thoughts  would  have  marveled  at  the 
curious  result  of  according  to  him  a  share  in  a 
collective  power.  He  was  no  longer  a  mere  man, 
but  an  individual  of  tenfold  importance,  conscious  of 
being  the  representative  of  five  persons  whose  com- 
bined powers  would  uphold  his  actions,  and  who  were 


*  A  fraudulent  scheme  for  founding  a  colony  in  Texas,  i  n  connection  with 
the  old  Napoleonic  troops  who  were  unreconciled  to  the  Restoration.  See  the 
experiences  of  Philippe  Bridau  In  La  RabouilUuse. 


234  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

present  wherever  he  was.  Carrying  their  authority 
in  his  heart,  he  was  conscious  of  a  fullness  of  life,  a 
noble  power  which  aroused  his  best  qualities.  It 
was,  as  he  said  later,  one  of  the  proudest  moments 
of  his  life;  for  he  enjoyed  a  new  sense,  the  sense 
of  an  omnipotence  more  certain  than  a  despot's. 
Moral  power  is  like  thought,  it  has  no  limits. 

"To  live  for  others,"  he  said  to  himself,  "to  act 
in  common  like  a  single  man,  and  to  act  by  one's  self 
like  all  together!  to  have  for  one's  leader  Charity, 
the  fairest,  the  most  life-like  of  the  ideal  figures  we 
have  made  of  the  Catholic  virtues,  that  is  living 
indeed!  But  I  must  repress  this  childish  delight  at 
which  Pere  Alain  would  laugh.  Is  it  not  strange, 
however,  after  all,  that  I  should  have  found  the 
power  I  have  so  earnestly  desired  for  so  long  a  time, 
when  my  only  idea  was  to  efface  myself?  The 
world  of  the  unfortunate  belongs  to  me  hence- 
forth!" 

He  walked  from  Notre-Dame  Cloister  to  Avenue 
de  1'Observatoire  in  such  a  state  of  exaltation  that 
he  did  not  notice  the  length  of  the  walk. 

When  he  reached  Rue  Notre-Dame  des  Champs, 
at  a  point  near  its  junction  with  Rue  de  1'Ouest,  he 
was  surprised  to  find  such  quagmires  in  such  a  fine 
location,  for  neither  of  the  streets  named  was  paved 
at  that  time.  One  must  walk  along  the  vacant  lots 
on  boards  bordering  boggy  gardens,  or  in  front  of 
the  houses  on  narrow  paths,  on  which  pools  of 
stagnant  water  soon  encroached  and  transformed 
them  into  brooks. 


THE  NOVICE  235 

After  a  long  search  he  succeeded  in  finding  the 
house  to  which  he  was  directed,  and  entered  it  not 
without  difficulty.  It  was  evidently  an  abandoned 
factory.  The  front  of  the  building,  which  was  quite 
narrow,  presented  the  appearance  of  a  high  wall 
pierced  by  windows,  and  without  any  sort  of 
decoration;  but  there  were  none  of  those  square 
openings  on  the  ground  floor,  where  naught  could  be 
seen  but  a  dilapidated  low  door. 

Godefroid  concluded  that  the  proprietor  had  ar- 
ranged small  suites  of  rooms  in  the  building  in  order 
to  turn  it  to  some  use,  for  there  was  a  placard  over 
the  door,  bearing  these  written  words:  Several 
rooms  to  let.  He  rang,  but  no  one  answered  the 
bell;  as  he  was  waiting,  a  passer-by  called  his 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  was  another  entrance 
on  the  boulevard,  where  he  would  find  somebody  to 
whom  he  could  apply. 

Godefroid  followed  the  suggestion  and  discovered, 
at  the  end  of  a  small  garden  which  skirted  the 
boulevard,  the  real  front  of  the  building,  partially 
concealed  by  trees.  The  garden,  which  was  very 
ill-kept,  sloped  considerably,  for  there  is  a  consider- 
able difference  in  grade  between  Rue  Notre-Dame 
des  Champs  and  the  boulevard,  the  result  being 
that  the  little  garden  was  a  sort  of  ditch.  Godefroid 
stepped  down  into  a  narrow  hall,  at  the  end  of  which 
he  saw  an  old  woman  whose  dilapidated  garments 
were  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  house. 

"Was  it  you  that  rang  on  Rue  Notre-Dame?" 
she  asked. 


236  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"Yes,  madame.  Are  you  the  person  who  shows 
the  rooms?" 

Upon  receiving  an  affirmative  reply  from  that 
concierge  of  uncertain  age,  Godefroid  inquired 
whether  the  tenants  were  people  of  quiet  habits;  he 
said  that  his  occupation  was  one  that  demanded  silence 
and  tranquillity;  he  was  a  bachelor  and  desired  to 
arrange  with  the  concierge  to  do  his  housekeeping. 

At  that  hint  she  assumed  a  gracious  expression 
and  said: 

"Monsieur  is  very  lucky  to  come  here;  for,  except 
on  f£te-days  at  the  Chaum&re  the  boulevard  is  as 
deserted  as  the  Pontine  marshes." 

"Do  you  know  the  Pontine  marshes?"  said 
Godefroid. 

"No,  monsieur;  but  I  have  an  old  gentleman 
upstairs,  whose  daughter's  state  brings  her  at  the 
point  of  death,  and  who  says  that;  I  just  repeat 
what  he  says.  The  poor  old  man  will  be  very  glad 
to  know  that  monsieur  likes  and  desires  rest;  for  a 
tenant  who  was  a  General  Tempest  would  hasten 
his  daughter's  death.  On  the  second  floor  we  have 
two  author  fellows;  but  they  come  home  at  mid- 
night and  go  out  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning. 
They  say  they're  authors;  but  I  don't  know  where 
or  when  they  work." 

As  she  spoke,  the  concierge  led  Godefroid  up  a 
horrible  staircase  of  brick  and  wood,  so  ill-joined, 
that  one  cannot  say  whether  the  wood  was  seeking 
to  part  company  with  the  bricks  or  whether  the 
bricks  were  tired  of  being  held  in  bondage  by  the 


THE  NOVICE  237 

wood;  the  two  materials  protected  themselves 
against  each  other  by  a  supply  of  dust  in  summer 
and  of  mud  in  winter.  The  walls,  of  cracked 
plastering,  displayed  more  inscriptions  than  the 
Academy  of  Belles-Lettres  ever  invented.  The 
concierge  paused  on  the  first  landing. 

"Here,  monsieur,  are  two  very  nice  adjoining 
rooms  that  open  on  Monsieur  Bernard's  landing. 
He's  the  old  gentleman  I  spoke  of,  a  very  comme  il 
faut  sort  of  man.  He  has  a  decoration,  but  he's 
been  unfortunate  apparently,  for  he  never  wears  it. 
At  first  they  had  a  manservant  from  the  provinces, 
and  they  dismissed  him  three  years  ago.  Since 
then  the  lady's  young  son  has  done  everything:  he 
does  the  housekeeping — " 

Godefroid  made  a  gesture. 

"Oh!  never  you  fear,"  cried  the  concierge, 
"they  won't  say  anything  to  you  about  it,  they 
never  speak  to  anybody.  The  gentleman's  been 
here  since  the  Revolution  of  July,  he  came  in  1831. 
They're  provincials  who  were  ruined  by  the  change 
of  government;  they're  proud,  they're  as  dumb  as 
fishes.  In  five  years,  monsieur,  they  haven't  ac- 
cepted the  slightest  service  from  me,  for  fear  of 
having  to  pay  for  it.  A  hundred  sous  at  New 
Year's,  that's  all  I  make  out  of  them.  Talk  to  me 
about  authors!  I  get  ten  francs  a  month  from 
them,  just  for  telling  everybody  who  comes  to  see 
them  that  they  moved  out  last  quarter." 

This  prattle  led  Godefroid  to  hope  for  an  ally  in 
the  concierge,  who  told  him,  while  vaunting  the 


238  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

healthful  qualities  of  the  two  rooms  and  the  two 
cabinets,  that  she  was  not  the  concierge,  but  the 
landlord's  confidential  servant,  and  that  she  managed 
the  house  for  him,  so  to  speak. 

"You  can  have  perfect  confidence  in  me,  mon- 
sieur, I  promise  you!  for  Madame  Vauthier  would 
rather  have  nothing  at  all,  than  take  a  sou  belonging 
to  anybody  else!" 

Madame  Vauthier  soon  came  to  terms  with  Gode- 
froid,  who  refused  to  hire  the  apartment  except  by 
the  month  and  furnished.  The  miserable  rooms 
were  let,  furnished  or  unfurnished,  to  unfortunate  stu- 
dents or  authors.  The  furniture  was  stored  in  the 
vast  garret,  which  was  of  the  size  of  the  whole 
building.  But  Monsieur  Bernard  had  himself  fur- 
nished the  rooms  he  occupied. 

By  encouraging  Dame  Vauthier  to  talk,  Godefroid 
discovered  that  it  was  her  ambition  to  keep  a  bour- 
geois boarding-house;  but,  in  five  years,  she  had 
not  succeeded  in  recruiting  a  single  boarder  from 
among  her  tenants.  She  lived  on  the  ground-floor, 
on  the  boulevard,  and  looked  after  the  house  herself, 
with  the  assistance  of  a  huge  dog,  a  buxom  maid- 
servant, and  a  small  male  domestic  who  cleaned  the 
boots,  did  the  chamberwork  and  the  errands;  they 
were  two  impecunious  creatures  like  herself,  in 
harmony  with  the  wretched  condition  of  the  house, 
the  poverty  of  the  tenants  and  the  wild  and  desolate 
aspect  of  the  garden  in  front  of  the  house. 

They  were  both  children  abandoned  by  their  fam- 
ilies, to  whom  the  widow  Vauthier  gave  no  wages  but 


THE   NOVICE  239 

their  board,  and  such  board!  The  boy,  of  whom 
Godefroid  caught  a  glimpse,  wore  a  ragged  jacket  for 
livery,  slippers  instead  of  shoes,  and  outside  the 
house  he  wore  wooden  clogs.  Unkempt  as  a  sparrow 
just  out  of  his  bath,  and  with  black  hands,  he 
measured  wood  in  one  of  the  woodyards  on  the 
boulevard  after  his  morning  work  was  done;  and, 
after  his  day's  work,  which  ended  at  half-past  four 
in  the  woodyards,  he  resumed  his  domestic  occupa- 
tions. He  went  to  the  fountain  of  the  Observatory 
to  fetch  the  necessary  water  for  the  house,  which 
the  widow  supplied  to  the  tenants,  together  with 
little  bundles  of  firewood,  sawed  and  tied  up  by  him. 

Nepomucene — such  was  the  name  of  the  widow 
Vauthier's  slave — carried  his  day's  wages  to  his 
mistress.  In  summer,  the  poor  outcast  became  a 
waiter  in  the  wine-shops  at  the  barrier,  on  Sundays 
and  Mondays.  At  such  times  the  widow  provided 
him  with  suitable  clothes. 

The  stout  maid-servant  did  the  cooking  under  the 
supervision  of  the  widow  Vauthier,  whom  she 
assisted  in  her  work  the  remainder  of  the  time;  for 
the  widow  had  a  trade:  she  made  list  slippers,  which 
she  sold  to  traveling  hawkers. 

Godefroid  learned  all  these  details  in  the  course 
of  an  hour,  for  the  widow  took  him  everywhere, 
showed  him  the  whole  house,  and  explained  the 
transformation  it  had  undergone.  Up  to  1828  it 
had  been  used  as  a  silk-worm  nursery,  not  so  much 
to  make  silk  as  to  obtain  what  is  called  the  egg. 
Eleven  acres  planted  with  mulberry  trees  on  the 


240  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

plain  of  Montrouge  and  three  acres  on  Rue  de 
1'Ouest,  on  which  houses  were  subsequently  built, 
furnished  nourishment  for  that  manufactory  of 
silk-worm's  eggs.  Just  as  the  widow  was  informing 
Godefroid  that  Monsieur  Barbet,  who  had  lent 
money  to  an  Italian  named  Fresconi,  the  promoter 
of  that  undertaking,  had  been  unable  to  recover  his 
money,  secured  by  a  mortgage  on  lands  and  build- 
ings, except  by  sale  of  the  three  acres  which  she 
pointed  out  to  him  on  the  other  side  of  Rue  Notre- 
Dame  des  Champs,  a  tall,  thin  old  man,  with 
snow-white  hair,  appeared  at  that  end  of  the  street 
which  joins  Rue  de  1'Ouest. 

"Ah!  good!  he  comes  just  in  time!"  cried  La 
Vauthier;  "see,  there's  your  neighbor,  Monsieur 
Bernard. — Monsieur  Bernard,"  she  said,  as  soon  as 
the  old  man  was  within  ear-shot,  "you  won't  be 
alone  any  longer,  this  gentleman  has  hired  the 
apartment  opposite  yours." 

Monsieur  Bernard  looked  up  at  Godefroid  with  a 
feeling  of  apprehension  easy  to  detect;  he  had  the 
air  of  saying  to  himself:  "The  misfortune  that  I 
dreaded  has  happened  at  last!" 

"Monsieur,"  he  said,  aloud,  "do  you  expect  to 
remain  here?" 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  replied  Godefroid  frankly. 
"This  is  not  the  abode  of  those  who  are  numbered 
among  the  fortunate  ones  of  the  earth,  and  this 
house  is  the  cheapest  place  I  could  find  in  the 
quarter.  Madame  Vauthier  does  not  pretend  to 
furnish  lodgings  for  millionaires. — Adieu,  my  dear 


GODEFROID  MEETS  M.   BERNARD 


"Ah!  good!  he  conies  just  in  time!"  cried  La 
VautJder ;  "see,  there's  your  neighbor,  Monsieur 
Bernard. — Monsieur  Bernard,"  she  said,  as  soon  as 
the  old  man  was  within  ear-shot,  "you  won't  be 
alone  any  longer,  this  gentleman  has  hired  the 
apartment  opposite  yours." 

Monsieur  Bernard  looked  up  at  Godefroid  with 
a  feeling  of  apprehension  easy  to  detect. 


THE  NOVICE  241 

Madame  Vauthier,  arrange  matters  so  that  I  can 
take  possession  this  evening  at  six  o'clock,  I  will 
return  promptly  at  that  hour." 

Thereupon  Godefroid  walked  away  toward  Rue 
de  POuest  at  a  slow  pace,  for  the  anxiety  depicted 
on  the  tall  old  man's  face  led  him  to  believe  that  he 
would  seek  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  him. 
In  fact,  after  a  moment's  hesitation,  Monsieur 
Bernard  retraced  his  steps  and  walked  after  Gode- 
froid as  if  to  overtake  him. 

"The  old  spy!  he'll  prevent  him  from  coming 
back,"  said  Dame  Vauthier  to  herself;  "this  is  the 
second  time  he's  played  me  that  trick. — But  patience! 
in  five  days  he  has  to  pay  his  rent,  and  if  he  don't 
come  to  time,  I'll  shut  the  door  on  him.  Monsieur 
Barbet  is  a  kind  of  tiger  who  don't  need  to  be 
stirred  up,  and — But  I'd  like  right  well  to  know 
what  he's  saying  to  him.  Felicite!  Felicite!  you 
vile  slut!  will  you  ever  come?"  cried  the  woman 
in  a  harsh,  threatening  tone — she  had  used  her  mild, 
flute-like  voice  in  speaking  to  Godefroid. 

The  servant,  a  stout,  squinting,  red-haired  damsel, 
ran  to  the  spot. 

"Keep  a  sharp  eye  on  everything  for  a  little 
while,  d'ye  hear?  I'll  be  back  in  five  minutes." 

With  that,  Dame  Vauthier,  once  cook  to  Barbet 
the  bookseller,  one  of  the  hardest-hearted  of  petty 
usurers,  glided  after  her  two  tenants,  so  that  she 
could  watch  them  at  a  distance  and  be  at  hand  to 
rejoin  Godefroid  when  the  conversation  between 

him  and  Monsieur  Bernard  should  come  to  an  end. 
16 


Monsieur  Bernard  walked  slowly,  like  a  man 
whose  mind  is  not  made  up,  or  like  a  debtor  trying 
to  invent  excuses  to  give  a  creditor  who  has  just 
left  him  in  anger. 

Godefroid,  although  his  back  was  turned  to  the 
stranger,  looked  at  him  while  pretending  to  examine 
the  neighboring  buildings.  So  it  was  not  until  he  was 
in  the  centre  of  the  broad  avenue  in  the  Luxem- 
bourg garden  that  Monsieur  Bernard  accosted  him. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  monsieur,"  he  said,  raising 
his  hat  to  Godefroid,  who  returned  the  salutation; 
"a  thousand  pardons  for  detaining  you  when  I  have 
not  the  honor  of  being  known  to  you;  but  is  your 
purpose  to  take  up  your  quarters  in  the  horrible 
house  in  which  I  live,  irrevocable?" 

"Why,  monsieur — " 

"Yes,"  the  old  man  continued,  interrupting 
Godefroid  with  an  authoritative  wave  of  the  hand, 
"I  know  that  you  may  ask  me  by  what  right  I 
interfere  in  your  affairs,  by  what  right  I  ques- 
tion you.  Listen,  monsieur,  you  are  young,  and 
I  am  quite  old,  older  than  my  years;  my  age  is 
sixty-seven,  and  one  would  say  that  I  was  eighty. 
Gray  hairs  and  misfortune  justify  many  things,  as 
the  law  exempts  septuagenarians  from  certain  public 
services;  but  I  do  not  mean  to  speak  to  you  of  the 
rights  of  gray  hairs,  but  of  your  own  interests.  Do 
(243) 


244  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

you  know  that  the  quarter  in  which  you  propose  to 
live  is  deserted  after  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
and  that  one  is  exposed  to  many  dangers  there,  the 
least  of  which  is  robbery?  Did  you  notice  those 
unoccupied  spaces,  those  fields,  those  gardens?— 
You  may  remind  me  that  I  live  there  myself;  but, 
monsieur,  I  never  go  out  after  six  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  You  will  remind  me  that  there  are  two 
young  men  who  lodge  on  the  second  floor,  over  the 
apartment  you  propose  to  take;  but,  monsieur,  those 
two  poor  scriveners  are  the  victims  of  notes  of  hand, 
hunted  by  creditors;  they  are  in  hiding,  they  go  out 
at  dawn  and  return  at  midnight,  having  no  fear 
of  robbers  or  assassins;  besides,  they  always  go 
together  and  are  always  armed.  I  myself  obtained 
permission  from  the  prefecture  of  police  for  them  to 
carry  weapons." 

"Oh!  monsieur,"  said  Godefroid,  "I  have  no  fear 
of  robbers  for  reasons  similar  to  those  that  make 
those  gentlemen  invulnerable,  and  I  have  such 
contempt  for  life,  that  if  I  should  be  murdered  by 
mistake  I  would  bless  the  murderer." 

"You  haven't  the  appearance  of  a  very  unhappy 
man,  however,"  rejoined  the  old  man,  who  had 
been  examining  Godefroid  with  attention. 

"I  have  just  enough  to  live  on,  to  keep  myself  in 
bread,  and  I  have  come  here,  monsieur,  because  of 
the  silence  that  reigns  here.  But  may  I  ask  you 
what  interest  you  have  in  keeping  me  away  from 
the  house?" 

The  tall   old  man   hesitated   to  reply;   he   saw 


THE   NOVICE  245 

Madame  Vauthier  coming;  but  Godefroid,  who  was 
examining  him  attentively,  was  surprised  at  the 
excessive  emaciation  to  which  grief  and  hunger,  it 
might  be,  or  perhaps  hard  work  had  reduced  him; 
there  were  indications  of  all  those  causes  of  weak- 
ness upon  his  face,  where  the  dry  skin  clung  close 
to  the  bones,  as  if  it  had  been  exposed  to  the  fierce 
heat  of  Africa.  The  high,  threatening  forehead 
sheltered  beneath  its  dome  two  steel-blue  eyes, 
cold,  stern,  sagacious  and  keen  as  a  savage's,  but 
marred  by  deep,  heavily-wrinkled,  black  circles. 
His  long,  thin,  high-arched  nose  and  his  raised  chin 
made  the  old  man's  face  curiously  like  the  well- 
known,  hackneyed  mask  of  Don  Quixote;  but  he 
was  a  threatening,  awe-inspiring  Don  Quixote,  with 
no  illusions. 

Despite  this  general  aspect  of  severity,  the  face 
bore  witness  to  the  fear  and  weakness  with  which 
poverty  endows  all  its  unfortunate  victims.  Those 
two  sentiments  produced  crevices  as  it  were  in  that 
solidly  constructed  face,  so  solidly  constructed  that 
the  destructive  mattock  of  want  seemed  to  have 
dulled  itself  upon  it.  The  mouth  was  grave  and 
eloquent.  Don  Quixote  combined  with  President 
de  Montesquieu. 

He  was  dressed  throughout  in  black  broadcloth, 
but  the  broadcloth  showed  the  nap.  The  coat,  of 
old-fashioned  cut,  and  the  trousers,  exhibited  divers 
patches  of  bungling  workmanship.  The  buttons 
had  been  renewed.  The  coat  was  buttoned  to  the 
chin  so  that  the  linen  could  not  be  seen,  and  the 


246  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

rusty  black  cravat  concealed  the  identity  of  a  false 
collar.  That  black  suit,  worn  for  many  long  years, 
was  redolent  of  poverty.  But  the  mysterious  old 
man's  grand  manner,  his  gait,  the  thought  that 
dwelt  upon  his  brow  and  manifested  itself  in  his 
eyes,  excluded  the  idea  of  pauperism.  An  observer 
would  have  hesitated  how  to  classify  that  Parisian. 

Monsieur  Bernard  seemed  so  absorbed  in  thought 
that  he  might  have  been  taken  for  a  professor  of  the 
quarter,  for  a  scholar  plunged  in  jealous  and  despotic 
meditation;  wherefore  Godefroid  was  seized  with  a 
keen  interest  in  him  and  a  curiosity  which  his 
benevolent  mission  excited  to  a  high  degree. 

"Monsieur,  if  I  were  sure  that  you  are  really  in 
search  of  silence  and  retirement,  I  would  say  to 
you:  'Live  in  my  neighborhood,'  "  said  the  old 
man.  "Hire  that  apartment,"  he  continued,  raising 
his  voice  so  as  to  be  heard  by  Dame  Vauthier,  who 
passed  at  that  moment,  listening  intently.  "I  am  a 
father,  monsieur,  and  I  have  nobody  on  earth  but 
my  daughter  and  her  son  to  assist  me  to  endure  the 
hardships  of  life;  and  my  daughter  requires  silence 
and  absolute  tranquillity.  All  those  who  have 
hitherto  taken  the  apartment  you  propose  to  take 
have  yielded  to  the  arguments  and  the  prayers  of  a 
despairing  father;  it  was  a  matter  of  indifference  to 
them  whether  they  lived  in  one  street  or  another  of 
a  quarter  which  is  really  deserted,  and  where  cheap 
lodgings  are  as  plentiful  as  moderate-priced  boarding- 
houses.  But  I  see  that  your  mind  is  fully  made  up, 
and  I  entreat  you,  monsieur,  do  not  deceive  me;  for 


THE  NOVICE  247 

in  that  case  I  shall  be  compelled  to  leave  the  house 
and  go  outside  the  barrier.  In  the  first  place, 
moving  may  cost  me  my  daughter's  life,"  he  said, 
in  an  altered  voice;  "and  then,  who  knows  whether 
the  doctors  who  attend  my  daughter  now  for  the 
love  of  God  will  be  willing  to  go  beyond  the 
barriers?" 

If  the  man  could  have  wept,  his  cheeks  would 
have  been  deluged  with  tears  as  he  said  these  last 
words;  but,  to  use  an  expression  in  common  use 
to-day,  he  had  tears  in  his  voice,  and  he  covered 
his  face  with  his  hands,  which  seemed  to  be  nothing 
but  bone  and  muscle. 

"What  is  your  daughter's  disease,  pray?"  said 
Godefroid  in  an  insinuating,  sympathetic  voice. 

"A  horrible  disease,  to  which  the  doctors  give  all 
sorts  of  names,  or,  to  speak  more  truly,  which  has 
no  name.  My  fortune  has  disappeared — " 

He  checked  himself,  and  said  with  one  of  those 
gestures  which  belong  only  to  the  unfortunate: 

"The  little  money  that  I  had — for  I  was  left 
without  means  in  1830,  and  deprived  of  an  important 
office — all  that  I  possessed  was  speedily  consumed 
by  my  daughter,  who  had  already  ruined  her 
mother,  monsieur,  and  her  husband's  family. 
To-day  my  pension  is  barely  sufficient  to  pay  for 
the  things  that  are  absolutely  necessary  for  my 
poor  saint-like  daughter  in  her  present  condition. 
She  has  exhausted  my  power  of  weeping.  I  have 
undergone  a  thousand  tortures,  monsieur;  I  must 
be  of  granite  not  to  have  died,  or,  rather,  God 


248  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

preserves  the  father  for  the  child,  so  that  she  may 
have  a  nurse,  a  Providence,  for  her  mother  died  of 
grief. — Ah!  young  man,  you  have  come  at  the 
moment  when  the  old  tree  that  has  never  bent 
begins  to  feel  the  axe  of  want,  sharpened  by  grief, 
attack  its  heart.  And  I,  who  have  never  uttered  a 
complaint,  propose  to  tell  you  about  this  disease,  in 
order  to  prevent  you  from  coming  to  the  house,  or, 
if  you  persist,  to  prove  to  you  the  necessity  of  not 
disturbing  our  repose.  At  this  moment,  monsieur, 
my  daughter  barks  like  a  dog,  day  and  night!" 

"Is  she  mad?"  said  Godefroid. 

"She  is  perfectly  sane,"  replied  the  old  man, 
"and  she  is  a  saint.  You  will  conclude  directly  that 
I  am  mad,  when  I  have  told  you  all.  My  only 
daughter,  monsieur,  was  born  of  a  mother  whose 
health  was  excellent.  In  all  my  life  I  have  loved 
but  one  woman  and  she  was  my  wife.  I  chose  her; 
I  married,  for  love,  the  daughter  of  one  of  the  most 
gallant  colonels  in  the  Garde  Imperiale,  a  Pole, 
formerly  an  orderly  of  the  Emperor,  the  brave 
General  Tarlovski.  The  functions  of  the  office  I 
held  demanded  great  purity  of  morals;  but  my  heart 
was  not  made  to  furnish  lodgings  for  many  senti- 
ments, and  I  faithfully  loved  my  wife,  who  well 
deserved  such  a  love.  As  a  father,  I  am  what  I 
was  as  a  husband,  that  is  the  whole  truth  in  a  word. 
My  daughter  never  left  her  mother,  and  no  child 
ever  lived  a  more  chaste,  more  Christian  life  than 
that  dear  girl.  She  was  born  more  than  pretty, 
beautiful;  and  her  husband,  a  young  man  of  whose 


THE  NOVICE  249 

morals  I  was  sure,  for  he  was  the  son  of  a  friend  of 
mine,  the  president  of  one  of  the  royal  courts, 
certainly  cannot  have  contributed  in  any  way  to 
my  daughter's  malady." 

He  paused,  and  he  and  Godefroid  instinctively 
glanced  at  each  other. 

"Marriage,  as  you  know,  sometimes  changes 
young  people  a  great  deal,"  continued  the  old  man. 
"Her  first  confinement  passed  off  without  accident, 
and  she  brought  forth  a  son,  my  grandson,  who 
lives  with  me  now,  the  only  scion  of  the  two 
families.  The  second  pregnancy  was  attended  by 
such  extraordinary  symptoms  that  all  the  physicians 
were  astounded  and  could  attribute  them  only  to  the 
curious  phenomena  which  sometimes  manifest  them- 
selves under  those  conditions,  and  which  they 
record  in  the  annals  of  the  science.  My  daughter 
gave  birth  to  a  dead  child,  literally  deformed  and 
suffocated  by  interior  convulsions.  The  disease 
was  beginning,  but  the  pregnancy  had  nothing  to 
do  with  it. — Perhaps  you  have  studied  medicine?" 

Godefroid  made  a  gesture  which  could  be  inter- 
preted as  one  of  assent  or  dissent. 

"After  that  terrible,  laborious  confinement," 
continued  Monsieur  Bernard — "a  confinement, 
monsieur,  which  produced  so  violent  an  impression 
on  my  son-in-law,  that  the  melancholia  supervened, 
of  which  the  poor  boy  died — my  daughter,  after  two 
or  three  months,  complained  of  a  general  weakness 
which  affected  her  feet  particularly,  so  that  they 
seemed  to  her,  as  she  said,  to  be  made  of  cotton. 


250  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

That  atony  changed  to  paralysis,  but  such  paralysis, 
monsieur!  You  could  bend  my  daughter's  feet 
under  her  and  twist  them  in  every  direction,  and 
she  did  not  feel  it.  The  limb  existed,  but  apparently 
had  neither  blood  nor  muscles  nor  bones.  This 
affection,  which  has  nothing  in  common  with  any 
known  disease,  extended  to  the  arms  and  hands, 
and  we  thought  that  it  must  be  some  disease  of  the 
spinal  column.  Doctors  and  medicines  simply  made 
her  worse,  until  my  poor  child  could  not  stir  without 
putting  her  ribs  or  her  shoulders  or  her  arms  out  of 
joint.  We  had  in  the  house  for  a  long  while  an 
excellent  surgeon,  who  spent  almost  his  whole  time, 
in  conjunction  with  the  physician  or  physicians, — 
for  he  came  to  us  from  curiosity, — replacing  her 
limbs — would  you  believe  it,  monsieur? — three  or 
four  times  a  day!  Ah!  the  disease  has  so  many 
forms,  that  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that,  during  the 
period  of  weakness,  before  her  limbs  were  paralyzed, 
my  daughter  had  the  most  extraordinary  attacks  of 
catalepsy. — You  know  what  catalepsy  is? — For 
instance  she  would  remain  for  days  at  a  time,  with 
her  eyes  open,  perfectly  motionless  in  whatever 
position  she  was  in  when  the  fit  seized  her.  She 
went  through  the  most  shocking  phases  of  that 
malady  and  even  had  attacks  of  tetanus.  That 
phase  of  the  disease  suggested  to  me  the  idea  of 
using  magnetism  as  a  remedy,  when  I  saw  that  she 
was  paralyzed  in  such  a  strange  way.  My  daughter, 
monsieur,  was  gifted  with  marvelous  powers  of 
clairvoyance;  her  mind  has  been  the  stage  of  all 


THE  NOVICE  251 

the  marvels  of  somnambulism,  even  as  her  body  is 
the  stage  of  all  diseases." 

Godefroid  began  to  wonder  if  the  old  man  were 
perfectly  sane. 

"I  am  a  child  of  the  eighteenth  century,  fed  upon 
Voltaire,  Diderot  and  Helvetius,"  he  continued, 
paying  no  heed  to  the  expression  of  Godefroid 's 
eyes,  "I  am  a  son  of  the  Revolution,  and  I  laughed 
at  all  the  stories  of  people  possessed  by  devils  in 
ancient  times  and  the  Middle  Ages;  but,  monsieur, 
such  possession  alone  will  explain  my  daughter's 
condition.  Even  in  her  somnambulism  she  has 
never  been  able  to  tell  us  the  causes  of  her  suffer- 
ings; she  did  not  see  them,  and  all  the  methods  of 
treatment  she  has  dictated  to  us,  although  scrupu- 
lously followed,  have  done  her  no  good.  For 
example,  she  wished  to  be  wrapped  in  the  body  of 
a  freshly-killed  pig;  then  she  ordered  us  to  stick 
sharp  pieces  of  iron,  heavily  magnetized  and  heated 
red  hot,  into  her  legs;  to  pour  melted  sealing-wax 
all  along  her  backbone.  And  such  horrible  things 
happened  to  her,  monsieur!  Her  teeth  fell  out! 
She  became  deaf,  then  dumb;  and  then,  after  six 
months  of  absolute  deafness  and  dumbness,  sud- 
denly the  power  of  speech  and  hearing  came  back 
to  her.  She  recovered  the  use  of  her  hands 
spasmodically,  as  she  lost  it;  but  her  feet  have  been 
useless  for  seven  years.  She  has  exhibited  the 
characteristic  symptoms  of  hydrophobia  and  has  had 
well-defined  attacks  of  that  disease.  Not  only  does 
the  sight  or  sound  of  water,  the  sight  of  a  glass  or 


252  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

cup,  make  her  wild,  but  she  has  contracted  the 
habit  of  barking  like  a  dog,  a  melancholy  bark, 
howls  such  as  a  dog  utters  when  anyone  plays  the 
organ.  Several  times  she  has  been  at  the  point  of 
death  and  has  received  the  sacraments,  and  she  has 
returned  to  life,  to  suffer  in  the  full  possession  of 
her  reason,  with  her  mind  perfectly  clear;  for  the 
powers  of  the  mind  and  heart  are  still  unimpaired. 
She  has  lived,  monsieur,  but  she  has  caused  the 
death  of  her  mother  and  her  husband,  who  were  not 
able  to  endure  the  strain  of  such  paroxysms.  Alas! 
monsieur,  what  I  have  told  you  is  nothing!  All  the 
natural  functions  are  perverted,  and  medical  science 
alone  can  explain  the  extraordinary  aberrations  of 
her  organs.  And  in  that  condition  I  was  obliged  to 
bring  her  from  the  province  to  Paris,  in  1829;  for 
the  two  or  three  physicians  in  Paris  to  whom  I 
applied,  Desplein,  Bianchonand  Haudry,  all  believed 
that  I  was  trying  to  deceive  them.  The  power  of 
magnetism  was  in  those  days  very  energetically 
denied  by  the  scientific  societies;  and,  although 
they  did  not  impugn  my  good  faith  and  that  of  the 
provincial  doctors,  they  imagined  that  there  had 
been  careless  observation,  or,  if  you  please,  exag- 
geration, which  is  very  common  among  patients 
and  their  families.  But  they  were  compelled  to 
change  their  minds,  and  the  phenomena  they 
observed  in  my  daughter's  case  are  responsible  for 
the  recent  researches  in  the  matter  of  nervous 
diseases,  for  her  extraordinary  plight  is  so  classified. 
The  last  consultation  held  by  those  gentlemen 


THE  NOVICE  253 

resulted  in  the  cessation  of  the  use  of  medicines; 
they  decided  that  nature  must  be  left  to  itself  and 
its  processes  carefully  studied.  Since  then  I  have 
had  only  one  physician,  the  last  is  the  one  who 
attends  the  poor  people  in  the  quarter.  He  does 
well  enough  to  ease  her  pain,  to  give  her  momentary 
relief,  which  is  all  we  can  do,  as  its  cause  is  not 
known." 

At  that  point  the  old  man  paused,  as  if  oppressed 
by  the  burden  of  those  horrifying  disclosures. 

"For  five  years,"  he  continued,  "my  daughter 
has  alternated  between  periods  of  slight  improvement 
and  constant  relapses;  but  there  has  been  no  new 
development.  She  suffers  more  or  less  from  the 
various  forms  of  nervous  attacks  which  I  have 
briefly  described  to  you;  but  the  affection  of  the 
legs  and  the  disorder  of  the  natural  functions 
are  constant.  Our  poverty,  which  has  steadily 
increased,  compelled  O6  to  leave  the  apartment  in 
the  Roule  quarter,  which  I  hired  in  1829;  and  as  my 
daughter  cannot  endure  being  moved,  and  as  I  have 
already  nearly  lost  her  twice,  bringing  her  to  Paris 
and  moving  from  the  Beaujon  quarter  here,  I  hired 
my  present  lodgings  at  once,  anticipating  the 
misfortunes  which  were  not  slow  to  burst  upon  me; 
for,  after  thirty  years'  service,  they  made  me  wait 
until  1833  for  the  adjustment  of  my  pension.  I  did 
not  receive  a  sou  until  within  six  months,  and  the 
new  government  had  added  to  its  other  harsh 
measures  that  of  granting  me  only  the  minimum 
amount." 


254  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Godefroid  made  a  gesture  of  surprise,  which  was 
in  effect  a  request  for  unreserved  confidence,  and 
the  old  man  so  understood  it,  for  he  at  once 
continued,  not  without  a  reproachful  glance  toward 
heaven: 

"I  am  one  of  the  innumerable  victims  of  the 
political  reactions.  I  conceal  a  name  upon  which 
many  people  would  be  glad  to  take  revenge,  and  if 
the  lessons  of  experience  are  not  always  wasted 
from  generation  to  generation,  remember,  young 
man,  never  to  lend  a  hand  in  carrying  out  the  harsh 
measures  of  any  political  party.  Not  that  I  repent 
having  done  my  duty,  my  conscience  is  perfectly 
clear,  but  the  ruling  powers  of  to-day  have  not  that 
solidarity  which  binds  governments  together,  even 
though  they  be  widely  different  in  form;  and  if  zeal 
is  rewarded,  it  is  the  result  of  a  passing  fear.  The 
instrument  they  have  used,  however  faithful  an 
instrument  it  may  have  been,  is  sooner  or  later 
entirely  forgotten.  You  see  in  me  one  of  the  most 
steadfast  supporters  of  the  government  of  the 
Bourbons  of  the  elder  branch,  as  I  was  of  the 
imperial  government,  and  I  am  destitute!  I  am  too 
proud  to  beg,  so  that  no  one  will  ever  dream  of  the 
untold  agony  I  suffer.  Five  days  ago,  monsieur, 
the  physician  of  the  quarter,  who  is  attending  my 
daughter — or  observing  her  case,  if  you  choose— told 
me  that  he  was  powerless  to  cure  a  disease,  the 
form  of  which  varied  every  fortnight.  According 
to  him,  nervous  diseases  are  the  despair  of 
medical  science,  for  their  causes  must  be  sought  in 


THE  NOVICE  255 

unexplorable  directions.  He  advised  me  to  have 
recourse  to  a  Jew  doctor  who  is  reputed  to  be  a 
quack;  but  he  told  me  that  he  was  a  foreigner,  a 
Polish  refugee,  that  the  faculty  are  very  jealous  of 
some  extraordinary  cures  that  have  caused  much 
talk,  and  that  some  people  believe  him  to  be  very 
learned  and  very  skilful.  But  he  is  exacting  and 
suspicious,  he  selects  his  own  patients  and  does  not 
waste  his  time;  and  lastly  he  is — a  communist. 
His  name  is  Halpersohn.  My  grandson  has  been  to 
see  him  twice  to  no  purpose,  for  we  have  had  no 
call  from  him  as  yet,  I  understand  why!" 

"Why?"  queried  Godefroid. 

"Oh!  my  grandson,  who  is  sixteen  years  old,  is 
dressed  even  more  shabbily  than  I  am;  and,  would 
you  believe  it,  monsieur,  I  do  not  dare  to  call  on 
this  doctor:  my  attire  accords  too  ill  with  what  one 
would  naturally  expect  in  a  man  of  my  age,  of  my 
gravity  of  character.  If  he  sees  the  grandfather  so 
destitute,  when  the  grandson  is  equally  ill-clad,  will 
he  give  my  daughter  the  necessary  attention?  He 
will  treat  her  as  they  all  treat  the  poor.  And  con- 
sider, my  dear  monsieur,  that  I  love  my  daughter 
for  all  the  pain  she  has  caused  me,  just  as  I  loved 
her  formerly  for  all  the  happiness  I  owed  to  her. 
She  has  become  angelic.  Alas!  she  is  no  longer 
aught  but  a  soul,  a  soul  that  shines  upon  her  son 
and  upon  me:  the  body  no  longer  exists,  for  she  has 
Conquered  pain.  Judge  what  a  spectacle  for  a 
father!  To  my  daughter  the  world  is  her  poor 
room!  she  must  have  flowers,  which  she  loves;  she 


256  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

reads  a  great  deal;  and,  when  she  has  the  use  of 
her  hands,  she  works  like  a  fairy.  She  knows 
nothing  of  the  profound  destitution  in  which  we  are 
plunged.  Thus  our  life  is  such  an  abnormal  one 
that  we  cannot  admit  anyone  to  our  apartments. 
Do  you  understand  me,  monsieur?  Do  you  see 
why  a  neighbor  is  an  impossibility?  I  should  ask 
him  to  do  so  many  things,  that  I  should  place  myself 
under  too  great  a  burden  of  obligation,  and  it  would 
be  impossible  for  me  to  repay  him.  In  the  first 
place,  I  have  not  time  for  everything:  I  am  educating 
my  grandson,  and  I  work  so  hard,  so  hard,  monsieur, 
that  I  do  not  sleep  more  than  three  or  four  hours — " 

"Monsieur,"  Godefroid  interrupted  the  old  man, 
whom  he  had  listened  to  patiently,  watching  him 
with  sorrowful  attention,  "I  will  be  your  neighbor 
and  I  will  assist  you — " 

The  old  man  made  a  gesture  of  pride,  of  impatience 
even,  for  he  had  no  belief  in  the  goodness  of  mankind. 

"I  will  assist  you,"  continued  Godefroid,  taking 
the  old  man's  hands  and  pressing  them  with  respect- 
ful warmth,  "so  far  as  1  can  assist  you.  Tell  me. 
What  do  you  expect  to  do  with  your  grandson?" 

"He  is  to  enter  the  School  of  Law  soon,  for  he 
will  follow  the  legal  profession." 

"Then  your  grandson  will  cost  you  six  hundred 
francs  a  year." 

The  old  man  said  nothing. 

"I  have  nothing  myself,"  said  Godefroid  after  a 
pause,  "but  I  can  do  much.  I  will  have  the  Jew 
doctor  for  you,  and  if  your  daughter  is  curable  she 


THE  NOVICE  257 

shall  be  cured.  We  will  find  a  way  to  pay  this 
Halpersohn." 

"Oh!  if  my  daughter  should  be  cured,  I  would 
make  a  sacrifice  that  I  can  make  but  once!"  cried 
the  old  man.  "I  would  sell  what  I  have  retained  as 
a  last  resource!" 

"You  will  keep  it—" 

"Oh!  youth!  youth!"  cried  the  old  man,  shaking 
his  head.  "Adieu,  monsieur,  or  rather  au  revoir. 
It  is  time  for  the  library  to  open,  and,  as  I  have  sold 
all  my  books,  I  am  obliged  to  go  there  every  day  to 
work.  I  am  grateful  to  you  for  this  generous  impulse 
of  yours;  but  we  shall  see  if  you  will  show  the  con- 
sideration I  must  ask  at  my  neighbor's  hands.  That 
is  all  I  expect  of  you." 

"Yes,  monsieur,  let  me  be  your  neighbor;  for, 
you  see,  Barbet  is  not  the  man  to  leave  his  rooms 
unoccupied  long,  and  you  might  fall  in  with  a  worse 
companion  in  misfortune  than  myself.  I  do  not  ask 
you  to  trust  me  now,  but  to  allow  me  to  be  useful 
to  you." 

"In  whose  interest?"  cried  the  old  man,  as  he 
prepared  to  descend  the  steps  of  the  Chartreux 
Cloister,  which  was  then  the  usual  passageway 
from  the  main  avenue  of  the  Luxembourg  to  Rue 
d'Enfer." 

"Have  you  never,  in  the  performance  of  your 
duties,  obliged  any  person?" 

The  old  man  looked  at  Godefroid  with  contracted 
eyebrows,  his  eyes  overflowing  with  memories,  like 
a  man  who  examines  the  book  of  his  life,  seeking 
17 


258  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

an  action  to  which  he  could  attribute  such  rare 
gratitude,  and  he  turned  coldly  away,  after  a  parting 
salutation  instinct  with  doubt. 

"Well,  for  a  first  interview,  he  was  not  very 
badly  frightened,"  said  the  novice  to  himself. 

Godefroid  at  once  betook  himself  to  Rue  d'Enfer, 
to  the  address  given  him  by  Monsieur  Alain,  and 
found  Doctor  Berton,  a  cold,  stern  man,  who  sur- 
prised him  greatly  by  assuring  him  of  the  accuracy 
of  all  the  details  of  his  daughter's  illness  given  him 
by  Monsieur  Bernard;  and  he  obtained  Halpersohn's 
address. 

That  Polish  physician,  who  subsequently  became 
so  famous,  was  then  living  at  Chaillot,  Rue  Marbeuf, 
in  a  small  isolated  house,  occupying  the  whole  first 
floor.  General  Roman  Zarnovicki  lived  on  the 
ground  floor  and  the  servants  of  the  two  refugees 
occupied  the  rooms  under  the  eaves  of  the  diminutive 
mansion,  which  had  but  two  floors.  Godefroid  did 
not  see  the  doctor;  he  learned  that  he  had  gone 
some  distance  into  the  country  at  the  summons  of  a 
wealthy  patient;  but  he  was  almost  glad  that  he 
did  not  find  him,  for,  in  his  haste,  he  had  forgotten 
to  provide  himself  with  money,  and  was  obliged  to 
return  to  his  room  at  the  H6tel  de  la  Chanterie  to 
obtain  a  supply. 

These  various  trips  and  the  time  passed  at  dinner 
at  a  restaurant  in  Rue  de  TOdeon  brought  Godefroid 
to  the  hour  when  he  was  to  take  possession  of  his 
lodging  on  Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnasse.  Nothing 
could  be  more  wretched  than  the  furniture  with 


THE   NOVICE  259 

which  Madame  Vauthier  had  furnished  the  two 
rooms.  It  seemed  that  the  woman  must  have  been 
accustomed  to  let  lodgings  that  were  not  occupied. 
The  bed,  chairs,  tables,  commode,  desk  and 
curtains  were  evidently  procured  at  sales  made  by 
authority  of  law,  in  cases  where  the  usurer  had  kept 
them  for  some  debt,  failing  to  obtain  what  they  were 
worth — a  case  of  frequent  occurrence. 

Madame  Vauthier  stood  with  her  arms  akimbo, 
waiting  for  thanks;  she  mistook  Godefroid's  smile 
for  a  smile  of  pleased  surprise. 

"Ah!  I  selected  all  the  finest  things  we  have  for 
you,  my  dear  Monsieur  Godefroid,"  she  said  with  a 
triumphant  air.  "There  are  pretty  silk  curtains, 
and  a  mahogany  bed  that  isn't  eaten  by  worms! — it 
belonged  to  the  Prince  de  Wissembourg  and  came 
from  his  hotel.  When  he  left  Rue  Louis-le-Grand 
in  1809,  I  was  a  scullery  maid  in  his  house. — From 
there  I  entered  my  landlord's  service." 

Godefroid  checked  this  flow  of  confidences  by 
paying  his  month's  rent  in  advance,  and,  also  in 
advance,  the  six  francs  he  was  to  pay  Madame 
Vauthier  for  keeping  house  for  him.  At  that  moment 
he  heard  a  bark,  and,  if  he  had  not  been  warned  by 
Monsieur  Bernard,  he  would  have  believed  that  his 
neighbor  kept  a  dog  in  his  room. 

"Does  that  dog  yelp  at  night?" 

"Oh!  don't  be  alarmed,  monsieur,  be  patient, 
you  only  have  this  week  to  suffer.  Monsieur 
Bernard  won't  be  able  to  pay  his  rent  and  he'll  be 
turned  out.  But  they're  very  curious  people,  I  tell 


260  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

you!  I  never  saw  their  dog.  The  dog  was  here 
for  months — what  do  I  say?  months?  yes,  six 
months,  without  anyone  hearing  him!  You  would 
never  have  believed  they  had  a  dog.  The  beast 
never  leaves  the  lady's  room.  There's  a  lady  there 
very  sick,  you  know!  She's  never  been  out  of  her 
room  since  she  first  went  into  it.  Old  Monsieur 
Bernard  works  very  hard,  and  so  does  her  son, 
who's  a  day  scholar  at  College  Louis-le-Grand, 
where  he's  finishing  his  course  in  philosophy,  at 
sixteen!  He's  a  young  blade,  I  tell  you!  but  the 
little  rascal  works  like  a  madman! — You'll  hear 
them  taking  out  the  flowers  from  the  lady's  room, 
for  the  grandfather  and  'grandson  eat  nothing  but 
bread,  but  they  buy  flowers  and  dainties  for  the 
lady.  The  lady  must  be  very  sick  not  to  have  left 
the  house  since  she  came  here;  and,  from  what 
Monsieur  Berton  says,  the  doctor  who  comes  to 
see  her,  she  won't  go  out  till  she  goes  feet  fore- 
most." 

"What  does  this  Monsieur  Bernard  do?" 

"He's  a  scholar,  it  seems;  for  he  writes,  he  goes 
to  the  libraries  to  work,  and  monsieur  lends  him 
money  on  what  he  writes." 

"Who  is  monsieur?" 

"My  landlord,  Monsieur  Barbet,  who  used  to  be 
a  bookseller;  he  was  in  business  sixteen  years. 
He's  a  Norman  and  used  to  sell  lettuce  in  the  street; 
he  set  up  in  the  old-book  trade  on  the  quays,  in 
1818;  then  he  had  a  little  shop  and  now  he's  very 
rich.  He's  a  sort  of  Jew  with  thirty-six  trades;  he 


THE   NOVICE  26l 

was  a  partner,  as  you  might  say,  with  the  Italian 
who  built  this  old  barrack  to  lodge  silk-worms  in." 

"So  this  house  is  a  place  of  refuge  for  unfortunate 
authors,  is  it?"  said  Godefroid. 

"Is  monsieur  unlucky  enough  to  be  one  of  'em?" 
queried  the  widow  Vauthier. 

"I  am  only  a  beginner,"  Godefroid  replied. 

"Oh!  my  dear  monsieur,  for  the  evil  I  wish  you, 
stop  where  you  are!  Now,  as  to  journalists,  I  don't 
say—" 

Godefroid  could  not  refrain  from  laughing  as  he 
said  good-night  to  the  ex-cook,  who  unconsciously 
represented  the  whole  bourgeoisie.  As  he  went  to 
bed  in  that  depressing  chamber,  with  its  flooring  of 
red  bricks  which  had  not  even  been  painted,  and 
hung  with  paper  at  seven  sous  the  roll,  Godefroid 
regretted  not  only  his  little  apartment  on  Rue 
Chanoinesse,  but  also  and  more  than  all  else  the 
society  of  Madame  de  la  Chanterie.  He  felt  a  great 
void  in  his  heart.  He  had  already  fallen  into  new 
ways  of  thinking,  and  he  did  not  remember  that  he 
had  ever  in  all  his  life  experienced  such  keen  regret. 
The  comparison,  brief  as  it  was,  had  a  tremendous 
effect  upon  his  mind:  he  understood  that  no  life 
could  be  compared  with  the  life  he  longed  to 
embrace,  and  his  resolution  to  rival  honest  Alain 
was  unassailable.  Lacking  the  vocation,  he  had 
the  will. 


The  next  morning  Godefroid,  who  had  become 
accustomed  in  his  new  life  to  rising  very  early,  saw 
from  his  window  a  young  man  of  some  seventeen 
years,  dressed  in  a  blouse,  who  was  returning 
doubtless  from  some  public  fountain,  with  a  jug 
filled  with  water  in  each  hand.  The  face  of  the 
young  man,  who  was  not  aware  that  he  was  being 
watched,  gave  full  expression  to  his  sentiments, 
and  Godefroid  had  never  seen  aught  so  ingenuous, 
nor  aught  so  sad.  The  charms  of  youth  were  held 
in  check  by  want,  by  study  and  by  great  physical 
weariness.  Monsieur  Bernard's  grandson  was 
noticeable  by  virtue  of  his  extreme  pallor,  which 
was  heightened  by  his  very  dark  brown  hair.  He 
made  three  journeys  to  the  fountain;  as  he  returned 
from  the  last  he  saw  a  load  of  wood  being  delivered 
which  Godefroid  had  ordered  the  day  before,  for 
the  late  winter  of  1838  was  beginning  to  make  itself 
felt  and  a  light  snow  had  fallen  during  the  night. 

Nepomucene,  who  had  begun  his  day's  work  by 
going  after  the  wood,  on  which  Madame  Vauthier 
had  made  a  large  levy  in  consideration  of  the  ser- 
vice, was  talking  with  the  young  man,  while  wait- 
ing for  the  sawer  to  prepare  a  bundle  for  him  to 
take  upstairs.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  the  sudden 
approach  of  cold  weather  was  causing  Monsieur 
Bernard's  grandson  some  anxiety,  and  that  the 
(263) 


264  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

sight  of  the  wood,  as  well  as  the  leaden  sky,  re- 
minded him  of  the  necessity  of  laying  in  his  own 
supply.  But  suddenly,  as  if  he  reproached  him- 
self for  wasting  precious  time,  the  young  man  took 
up  his  two  jugs  and  hurried  into  the  house.  It 
was  half-past  seven  o'clock,  and  when  he  heard 
the  clock  at  the  Convent  of  the  Visitation  strike 
that  hour,  he  remembered  that  he  must  be  at  the 
College  Louis-le-Grand  at  half-past  eight. 

Just  as  the  young  man  entered  the  house,  Gode- 
froid  opened  his  door  to  Madame  Vauthier,  who  was 
bringing  hot  coals  for  her  new  tenant — so  that 
Godefroid  witnessed  a  scene  that  took  place  on  the 
landing.  A  gardener  from  the  neighborhood,  after 
ringing  several  times  at  Monsieur  Bernard's  door 
without  result,  for  the  bell  was  wrapped  in  paper, 
indulged  in  a  coarse  dispute  with  the  young  man, 
demanding  the  money  due  for  the  hire  of  the  plants 
furnished  by  him.  As  the  creditor  raised  his  voice, 
Monsieur  Bernard  appeared. 

"Go  in  and  dress  yourself,  Auguste,"  he  said  to  his 
grandson,  "it  is  time  for  you  to  go  to  the  college." 

He  took  the  two  jugs  and  returned  to  the  first 
room  of  his  suite,  where  Godefroid  caught  a  glimpse 
of  plants  in  jardinieres;  then  he  closed  the  door  and 
returned  to  speak  with  the  gardener.  Godefroid's 
door  was  open,  for  Nepomucene  had  begun  his  trips 
and  was  piling  up  the  wood  in  the  first  room.  The 
gardener  had  held  his  peace  at  sight  of  Monsieur 
Bernard,  who  made  an  imposing  appearance  in  a 
violet  silk  dressing-gown  buttoned  to  the  chin. 


THE   NOVICE  265 

"You  can  just  as  well  ask  for  what  we  owe  you 
without  shouting  so,"  said  he. 

"Be  just,  my  dear  monsieur,"  rejoined  the 
gardener:  "you  were  to  pay  me  every  week,  and 
here  it  is  three  months,  ten  weeks,  since  I  received 
anything,  and  you  owe  me  a  hundred  and  twenty 
francs.  We  are  used  to  letting  our  plants  to  rich 
people  who  give  us  our  money  as  soon  as  we  ask 
for  it,  and  this  is  the  fifth  time  I've  been  here.  We 
working  people  have  our  rent  to  pay  and  I  am 
hardly  any  better  off  than  you.  My  wife,  who 
supplied  you  with  milk  and  eggs,  won't  come  this 
morning:  you  owe  her  thirty  francs,  and  she  prefers 
not  to  come  rather  than  worry  you  about  the  money, 
for  she's  a  kind-hearted  creature,  is  my  wife!  If  I 
listened  to  her,  business  wouldn't  be  possible. 
That's  the  reason  I  come,  for  I  can't  hear  with  that 
ear,  you  understand?" 

At  that  moment  Auguste  came  out,  dressed  in  a 
shabby  green  coat  and  cotton  trousers  of  the  same 
color,  a  black  cravat  and  badly  worn  boots.  His 
clothes,  although  carefully  brushed,  betrayed  the 
last  degree  of  destitution,  for  they  were  too  short 
and  too  tight,  so  that  he  seemed  likely  to  split 
them  at  every  movement.  The  white  seams,  the 
shrivelled  edges,  the  torn  buttonholes  displayed  to 
the  least  practised  eye,  despite  the  neat  patches, 
the  ignoble  stamp  of  poverty.  That  livery  of  want 
contrasted  strangely  with  the  blooming  youth  of 
Auguste,  who  walked  away,  munching  a  piece  of 
stale  bread,  upon  which  his  fine,  strong  teeth  left 


266  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

their  mark.  He  breakfasted  thus  on  his  way  from 
Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnasse  to  Rue  Saint- Jacques, 
holding  his  books  and  papers  under  his  arm,  his 
superb  dark  hair  peeping  out  from  beneath  his  cap, 
which  was  too  small  for  his  noble  head. 

As  he  passed  his  grandfather  he  exchanged  with 
him  a  swift,  pitifully  sad  glance,  for  he  saw  that  he 
was  confronted  by  an  almost  insurmountable  diffi- 
culty, whose  consequences  were  most  deplorable. 
To  make  room  for  the  student  of  philosophy,  the 
gardener  stepped  back  to  Godefroid's  door;  and  just 
as  he  reached  the  threshold,  Nepomucene  blocked 
up  the  landing  with  a  load  of  wood,  so  that  the 
creditor  stepped  into  the  room  and  to  the  window. 

"Monsieur  Bernard,"  cried  the  widow  Vauthier, 
"do  you  suppose  Monsieur  Godefroid  hired  his 
rooms  for  you  to  receive  callers  in?" 

"Excuse  me,  madame,"  said  the  gardener,  "the 
landing  was  full — " 

"I  didn't  say  that  for  your  benefit,  Monsieur 
Cartier,"  rejoined  the  widow. 

"Stay  here!"  cried  Godefroid  to  the  gardener. — 
"And  if  it  is  more  convenient  for  you,  my  dear 
neighbor,"  he  added,  looking  at  Monsieur  Bernard, 
who  seemed  entirely  insensible  to  the  despicable 
insult,  "to  talk  with  your  gardener  in  this  room, 
come  in." 

The  tall  old  man,  dazed  with  grief,  cast  a  glance 
at  Godefroid,  expressive  of  untold  gratitude. 

"And  as  for  you,  my  dear  Madame  Vauthier,  be 
less  rude  to  monsieur,  in  the  first  place  because  he's 


THE  NOVICE  267 

an  old  man,  and  in  the  second  place,  because  you 
owe  it  to  him  that  I  am  your  tenant." 

"Nonsense!"   cried  the  widow. 

"And  then,  if  people  who  aren't  rich  don't  help 
one  another,  who  will  help  them?  Leave  us, 
Madame  Vauthier;  I  will  kindle  my  fire  myself. 
Just  have  my  wood  put  in  your  cellar,  I  think  you 
will  take  good  care  of  it." 

Madame  Vauthier  disappeared:  for  Godefroid,  by 
giving  her  wood  to  store,  had  furnished  rich  pastur- 
age for  her  avidity. 

"Come  in  here,  gentlemen,"  said  Godefroid, 
making  a  sign  to  the  gardener  and  placing  two 
chairs  for  him  and  his  debtor. 

The  old  man  remained  standing  but  the  gardener 
sat  down. 

"Now,  my  dear  man,"  continued  Godefroid, 
"the  rich  people  don't  pay  as  regularly  as  you  say, 
and  you  ought  not  to  worry  a  worthy  man  for  a  few 
louis.  Monsieur  receives  his  pension  every  six 
months,  and  he  can't  assign  it  to  you  for  such  a 
paltry  sum;  but  I  will  advance  the  money  if  you 
insist  upon  it." 

"Monsieur  Bernard  received  his  pension  money 
three  weeks  ago,  and  he  didn't  pay  me.  I  should  be 
sorry  to  cause  him  any  trouble — " 

"Let  us  see!  you  have  been  furnishing  him  plants 
since — " 

"For  six  years,  monsieur,  and  he  always  paid  me 
promptly." 

Monsieur  Bernard,  who  was  listening  intently  to 


268  THE   OTHER  SIDE 

what  was  taking  place  in  his  own  room,  and  not  to 
this  discussion,  heard  shrieks  through  the  partition, 
and  he  hurried  away  in  dire  alarm,  without  speaking. 

"Come,  come,  my  good  man,  bring  some  pretty 
flowers,  your  prettiest  flowers,  to  Monsieur  Bernard 
this  morning,  and  let  your  wife  send  some  fresh  eggs 
and  milk;  I  will  pay  you  to-night,  myself." 

Cartier  looked  at  Godefroid  with  a  curious  ex- 
pression. 

"I  suppose  you  know  more  about  them  than 
Madame  Vauthier,  who  sent  word  to  me  to  bestir 
myself  if  I  wanted  to  be  paid,"  he  said.  "Neither 
she  nor  I,  monsieur,  can  understand  why  people 
who  live  on  bread,  who  pick  up  bean-pods,  and  the 
parings  of  carrots,  turnips  and  potatoes  at  restaurant 
doors, — yes,  monsieur,  I  saw  the  young  fellow  with 
a  basket  he  was  filling — why  such  people  should 
spend  nearly  a  hundred  francs  a  month  on  flowers. 
They  say  that  the  old  man's  pension  is  only  three 
thousand  francs." 

"At  all  events,"  said  Godefroid,  "it  isn't  for 
you  to  complain  because  they  ruin  themselves  in 
flowers." 

"Of  course  not,  monsieur,  provided  I  am  paid." 

"Bring  me  your  bill." 

"Very  well,  monsieur,"  said  the  gardener,  with  a 
suggestion  of  respect.  "I  suppose  monsieur  wishes 
to  see  the  lady  who  is  kept  hidden?" 

"Be  quiet,  my  good  friend,  you  forget  yourself!" 
retorted  Godefroid  dryly.  "Return  home,  select 
your  finest  plants  to  replace  those  you  are  to  take 


THE  NOVICE  269 

away.  If  you  can  supply  me  with  sweet  cream  and 
fresh  eggs,  you  shall  have  my  custom,  and  I  will 
come  and  look  over  your  place  this  morning." 

"It  is  one  of  the  finest  in  Paris,  monsieur,  and  I 
exhibit  at  the  Luxembourg.  My  garden,  which 
contains  three  acres,  is  on  the  boulevard,  behind  the 
garden  of  the  Grande  Ckaum&re." 

"Very  good,  Monsieur  Cartier.  You  are,  I  should 
judge,  richer  than  I  am.  Be  considerate  to  us,  for 
who  knows  that  we  shall  not  need  one  another's 
help  some  day?" 

The  gardener  took  his  leave,  sorely  perplexed  as 
to  who  Godefroid  might  be. 

"And  I  was  like  that  once!"  said  Godefroid  to  him- 
self as  he  kindled  his  fire.  "What  a  perfect  model 
of  the  bourgeois  of  to-day!  gossipy,  inquisitive,  con- 
sumed with  the  idea  of  equality,  eager  for  custom, 
angry  because  he  doesn't  know  why  an  invalid 
stays  in  her  room  and  does  not  show  herself; 
anxious  to  conceal  his  wealth,  and  yet  vain  enough 
to  display  it  so  that  he  can  hold  himself  above  his 
neighbor.  The  fellow  must  be  at  least  a  lieutenant 
in  his  company.  How  easily  the  scene  of  Monsieur 
Dimanche  is  played,  at  all  times!  Another  moment 
and  I  should  have  made  a  friend  of  Sieur  Cartier." 

The  tall  old  man  interrupted  Godefroid's  soliloquy, 
which  shows  how  his  ideas  had  changed  in  four 
months. 

"I  beg  your  pardon,  neighbor,"  said  Monsieur 
Bernard,  in  a  troubled  voice,  "I  see  that  you  have 
sent  the  gardener  away  contented,  for  he  bowed 


270  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

politely  to  me.  In  very  truth,  young  man,  Provi- 
dence seems  to  have  sent  you  here  expressly  for 
our  benefit,  just  at  the  moment  when  we  were 
about  to  succumb.  Alas!  tha»t  man's  indiscretion 
has  enabled  you  to  guess  many  things.  It  is  true 
that  I  received  my  half-yearly  pension  a  fortnight 
ago,  but  I  had  debts  more  pressing  than  his,  and  I 
had  to  reserve  enough  for  our  rent  or  else  be  turned 
out.  You,  to  whom  I  have  confided  my  daughter's 
condition,  and  who  have  heard  her — " 

He  looked  anxiously  at  Godefroid,  who  made  a 
sign  of  assent. 

"Very  well,  judge  for  yourself  if  it  would  not  be  a 
death-blow  to  her — for  I  should  have  to  put  her  in  a 
hospital! — My  grandson  and  I  dreaded  this  morning, 
but  it  was  not  Cartier  that  we  feared  most,  it  was 
the  cold—" 

"I  have  wood,  my  dear  Monsieur  Bernard,  take 
some,"  said  Godefroid. 

"How  can  I  ever  repay  such  services?"  cried  the 
old  man. 

"By  accepting  them  without  ceremony,"  replied 
Godefroid  eagerly,  "and  by  having  full  confidence 
in  me." 

"But  what  claim  have  I  to  such  generous  treat- 
ment?" asked  Monsieur  Bernard,  distrustful  once 
more.  "My  pride  and  my  grandson's  are  crushed !" 
he  cried,  "for  we  have  already  stooped  to  explain 
our  position  to  the  two  or  three  creditors  we  have. 
The  unfortunate  have  no  creditors;  for  that,  one 
must  have  a.certain  external  splendor  that  we  have 


THE  NOVICE  271 

lost.  But  I  haven't  yet  abdicated  my  reason  and 
my  common  sense,"  he  added,  as  if  he  were  speak- 
ing to  himself. 

"Monsieur,"  replied  Godefroid  gravely,  "the 
story  you  told  me  yesterday  would  have  drawn 
tears  from  a  usurer!" 

"No,  no;  for  Barbet,  the  bookseller,  our  landlord, 
trades  on  my  poverty  and  employs  this  Vauthier, 
his  former  servant,  to  spy  upon  me." 

"How  can  he  trade  upon  it?"  queried  Godefroid. 

"I  will  tell  you  that  later,"  the  old  man  replied. 
"My  daughter  may  be  cold;  I  am  in  a  condition  to 
accept  alms,  even  from  my  worst  enemy,  and  as 
you  are  kind  enough — " 

"I  will  bring  you  some  wood,"  said  Godefroid, 
crossing  the  landing  with  an  armful  of  sticks  which 
he  placed  in  the  first  room  of  the  old  man's  suite. 

Monsieur  Bernard  took  a  like  amount,  and  when 
he  saw  that  little  store  of  fuel,  he  could  not  repress 
the  foolish,  almost  idiotic  smile  with  which  people 
saved  from  a  great  danger,  which  seemed  to  them 
inevitable,  express  their  joy — for  there  is  still  a 
remnant  of  terror  in  it. 

"Accept  everything  from  me  without  suspicion, 
my  dear  Monsieur  Bernard,  and  when  your  daughter 
is  saved,  when  you  are  happy,  I  will  explain  it  all 
to  you;  but  until  then,  let  me  do  as  I  wish. — I  went 
to  see  Halpersohn,  the  Jew  doctor,  but  unfortunately 
he  is  out  of  town;  he  will  not  return  for  two 
days." 

At   that    moment    a  ;voice,    which    seemed   to 


272  THE   OTHER  SIDE 

Godefroid  to  be  and  which  really  was  fresh  and 
melodious,  cried:  "Papa!  papa!"  in  two  different 
keys. 

While  talking  with  the  old  man,  Godefroid  had 
noticed  through  the  cracks  in  the  door  opposite  the 
hall  door,  the  white  lines  of  clean,  fresh  paint,  which 
indicated  a  vast  difference  between  the  invalid's 
chamber  and  the  other  rooms  of  the  suite;  but  his 
curiosity,  already  aroused  by  that  circumstance,  was 
carried  to  the  highest  pitch;  his  charitable  mission 
was  no  longer  aught  but  a  pretext,  his  object  was  to 
see  the  invalid.  He  refused  to  believe  that  a 
creature  blessed  with  such  a  voice  could  be  a  loath- 
some object. 

"You  take  too  much  trouble,  papa!"  said  the 
voice.  "Why  not  have  more  servants  than  you 
have?  At  your  age!  Mon  Dieu!" 

"You  know  very  well,  dear  Vanda,  that  I  am  not 
willing  that  anybody  but  your  son  and  me  should 
wait  on  you." 

These  two  sentences,  which  Godefroid  heard 
through  the  door,  or  rather  divined,  for  the  sounds 
were  stifled  by  a  portiere,  gave  him  a  glimpse  of  the 
truth.  It  must  be  that  the  invalid,  surrounded  by 
luxury,  was  ignorant  of  the  real  plight  of  her  father 
and  her  son.  Monsieur  Bernard's  silk  dressing-gown, 
the  plants  and  his  conversation  with  Cartier  had 
already  aroused  some  suspicions  of  the  truth  in 
Godefroid's  mind,  and  he  stood  there,  almost  dazed 
by  that  miracle  of  paternal  love.  The  contrast 
between  the  invalid's  room  as  he  imagined  it  and 


THE  NOVICE  273 

the  balance  of  the  suite,  was  startling!  Let  the 
reader  judge. 

Through  the  door  of  the  third  room,  which  the 
old  man  had  left  partly  open,  Godefroid  saw  two 
twin  cots  of  painted  wood,  like  those  used  in  the 
meanest  boarding-houses,  provided  with  a  straw 
pallet  and  a  thin  mattress  over  which  there  was  but 
one  coverlid.  A  small  cast-iron  stove,  like  those 
upon  which  concierges  do  their  cooking,  in  front  of 
which  lay  several  squares  of  peat,  would  have 
demonstrated  Monsieur  Bernard's  destitution,  even 
without  the  other  details,  all  of  which  were  in 
harmony  with  that  horrible  stove. 

Stepping  nearer  to  the  door,  Godefroid  saw  some 
earthenware  of  the  sort  used  in  the  poorest  house- 
holds; bowls  of  glazed  clay  in  which  potatoes  were 
swimming  in  dirty  water.  Two  stained  tables, 
laden  with  papers  and  books,  stood  in  front  of  the 
window  looking  on  Rue  Notre-Dame  des  Champs 
and  told  of  the  nocturnal  occupations  of  the  father 
and  son.  On  the  two  tables  there  were  two 
wrought-iron  candlesticks  such  as  the  poor  com- 
monly use,  and  in  them  Godefroid  spied  candles 
of  the  cheapest  sort,  that  is  to  say  the  sort  of  which 
there  are  eight  to  the  pound. 

On  a  third  table,  used  as  a  kitchen  table,  gleamed 
two  plates  and  a  small  spoon  of  silver-gilt,  plates,  a 
bowl  and  cups  of  Sevres  porcelain,  a  knife  with  one 
steel  and  one  silver  blade  in  its  case,  in  a  word,  the 
invalid's  service. 

There  was  a  fire  in  the  stove  and  the  water  in  the 
18 


274  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

kettle  was  steaming  feebly.  A  wardrobe  of  painted 
wood  doubtless  contained  linen  and  wearing  apparel 
belonging  to  Monsieur  Bernard's  daughter,  for 
Godefroid  saw  the  clothes  the  old  man  had  taken 
off  the  night  before,  lying  across  his  bed  as  a 
covering  for  his  feet. 

Other  garments  similarly  placed  on  the  grandson's 
bed  justified  the  presumption  that  their  whole 
wardrobe  was  there;  and  Godefroid  saw  shoes 
under  the  bed.  The  floor,  evidently  swept  but 
seldom,  resembled  the  floor  of  a  class-room  in  a 
boarding-school.  A  six-pound  loaf,  partly  eaten, 
lay  on  a  shelf  over  the  table.  In  a  word,  it  was 
poverty  in  its  last  stage,  poverty  reduced  to  a 
method,  with  the  unattractive  neatness  indicative  of 
a  determination  to  endure;  hurried  poverty  that 
would  and  ought  but  cannot  do  everything,  and 
which  therefore  uses  all  its  poor  belongings  in 
unforeseen  ways.  A  strong,  unpleasant  odor 
exhaled  from  that  infrequently  cleansed  room. 

The  reception-room,  where  Godefroid  was  wait- 
ing, was  at  least  decent,  and  he  guessed  that  it  was 
meant  to  conceal  the  horrors  of  the  room  in  which 
the  grandfather  and  grandson  lived.  The  walls 
were  hung  with  a  figured  paper  after  the  style  of  a 
Scotch  plaid;  the  room  was  furnished  with  four 
walnut  chairs  and  a  small  table,  and  decorated  with 
the  colored  engraving  of  Horace  Vernet's  portrait 
of  the  Emperor,  with  a  portrait  of  Louis  XVIII.  and 
of  Charles  X.  and  Prince  Poniatowski,  presumably 
a  friend  of  Monsieur  Bernard's  father-in-law.  At 


THE   NOVICE  275 

the  window  were  calico  curtains  with  a  red  border 
and  fringe. 

Godefroid,  who  was  on  the  watch  for  Nepo- 
mucene, heard  him  coming  up  with  a  bundle  of 
wood  and  motioned  to  him  to  deposit  it  quietly  in 
Monsieur  Bernard's  reception-room,  and  with  a 
thoughtfulness  that  denoted  considerable  progress 
in  the  novice,  he  closed  the  door  of  the  kennel,  so 
that  the  widow  Vauthier's  servant  should  know 
nothing  of  the  old  man's  distress. 

The  reception-room  contained  three  jardinieres 
full  of  the  most  superb  flowers;  two  of  them  were 
oblong  and  one  round,  they  were  all  made  of  violet 
wood  and  were  very  handsome;  and  Nepomucene, 
after  he  had  placed  the  wood  on  the  floor,  could  not 
refrain  from  exclaiming: 

"Ain't  they  pretty?  They  must  have  cost 
a  lot!" 

"Don't  make  so  much  noise,  Jean!"  cried 
Monsieur  Bernard. 

"Do  you  hear?"  Nepomucene  asked  Godefroid. 
"The  old  fellow's  cracked,  for  sure!" 

"Do  you  know  what  you  will  be  at  his  age?" 

"Oh!  yes,  I  know,"  Nepomucene  replied,  "I 
shall  be  in  a  sugar-bowl." 

"In  a  sugar-bowl?" 

"Yes,  they'll  have  made  bone-black  with  my 
bones,  I  s'pose.  I've  often  seen  the  refinery  wagons 
come  to  Montsouris  to  get  bone-black  for  their 
factories,  and  they  told  me  they  used  it  to  make 
sugar." 


276  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

With  that  philosophical  reply  he  went  down  after 
another  load. 

Godefroid  discreetly  closed  Monsieur  Bernard's 
door  and  left  him  alone  with  his  daughter.  Madame 
Vauthier,  who  meanwhile  had  prepared  her  new 
lodger's  breakfast,  came  up  to  serve  it,  assisted  by 
Felicite.  Godefroid,  lost  in  thought,  was  gazing  at 
the  fire  on  his  hearth.  He  was  absorbed  in  the 
contemplation  of  that  misery  which  included  so 
many  different  forms  of  misery,  but  in  which  he 
caught  a  glimpse  too  of  the  ineffable  joy  of  the 
constant  triumphs  won  by  filial  and  paternal  love. 
It  was  like  pearls  scattered  upon  sack-cloth. 

"What  works  of  the  imagination,  even  the  most 
famous,  are  equal  to  these  realities?"  he  said  to 
himself.  "What  a  noble  life  is  that  in  which  one 
espouses  such  lives  as  these,  in  which  the  mind 
seeks  their  causes  and  effects  and  makes  them  run 
more  smoothly,  soothes  their  pain  and  helps  them 
to  attain  happiness!  To  make  one's  self  familiar  with 
misery,  to  learn  the  secrets  of  such  households!  To 
be  a  constant  actor  in  the  ever-recurring  dramas 
which  famous  authors  depict  for  us  so  entertainingly! 
I  did  not  believe  that  doing  good  was  more  alluring 
than  vice." 

"Is  monsieur  satisfied?"  queried  Madame  Vau- 
thier, who,  with  Felicite's  assistance,  had  moved 
the  table  near  to  where  Godefroid  was  standing. 

Godefroid  thereupon  perceived  a  cup  of  excellent 
cafe  au  lait,  accompanied  by  a  smoking  omelet,  fresh 
butter  and  little  rosy  radishes. 


THE  NOVICE  277 

"Where  the  devil  did  you  fish  up  those  radishes?" 
asked  Godefroid. 

"Monsieur  Cartier  gave  them  to  me,"  she  replied; 
"I  give  monsieur  the  benefit  of  them." 

"What  do  you  charge  for  such  a  breakfast  as  this 
every  day?" 

"Dame,  monsieur,  be  fair  with  me:  it  is  very  hard 
to  furnish  it  for  thirty  sous." 

"Thirty  sous  it  is!"  said  Godefroid;  "but  how 
does  it  happen  that  they  charge  only  forty-five 
francs  a  month  for  dinners  at  Madame  Machillot's, 
close  by?  that  makes  thirty  sous  a  day." 

"Oh!  but  what  a  difference  there  is,  monsieur, 
between  preparing  a  dinner  for  fifteen  and  buying 
everything  you  need  for  just  one  breakfast!  See, 
a  small  loaf,  eggs,  butter,  sugar,  milk,  coffee  and 
making  the  fire.  Just  think,  they  ask  sixteen  sous 
for  just  a  cup  of  cafe  au  lait  on  Place  de  1'Odeon, 
and  you  give  the  waiter  one  or  two  sous!  Here, 
you  have  nothing  to  disturb  you;  you  breakfast  at 
home,  in  your  slippers." 

"Very  well,  it's  all  right,"  said  Godefroid. 

"If  it  wasn't  for  Madame  Cartier,  who  supplies 
me  with  milk  and  eggs  and  herbs,  I  couldn't  do  it. 
You  must  go  and  see  their  place,  monsieur.  Ah! 
it's  something  fine!  They  keep  five  boys  at  work 
in  the  garden,  and  Nepomucene  goes  there  to  draw 
water  all  summer;  they  let  it  to  me  for  watering — 
They  make  lots  of  money  on  melons  and  straw- 
berries— You  seem  to  be  much  interested  in 
Monsieur  Bernard,  monsieur?"  observed  the  widow 


278  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Vauthier  in  honeyed  tones;  "to  make  yourself 
responsible  for  their  debts  like  that! — Perhaps 
monsieur  doesn't  know  all  they  owe.  There's  the 
lady  who  keeps  the  bookstall  on  Place  Saint-Michel, 
she  comes  here  every  three  or  four  days  for  thirty 
francs,  and  she  needs  it  too.  God  of  Gods!  how 
the  poor  sick  lady  reads!  She  reads  and  reads! 
You  can  see  yourself,  thirty  francs  in  three  months 
at  two  sous  the  volume." 

"That's  a  hundred  volumes  a  month!"  cried 
Godefroid. 

"Ah!  there  goes  the  old  man  out  to  get  madame's 
cream  and  bread!"  continued  Widow  Vauthier.  "The 
cream's  for  her  tea,  for  the  lady  lives  on  nothing 
but  tea!  she  takes  it  twice  a  day,  and  twice  a  week 
she  has  to  have  sweets.  She's  a  dainty  one!  The 
old  man  buys  cakes  and  pies  for  her  at  the  pastry- 
cook's on  Rue  de  Buci.  When  she's  in  question, 
he  doesn't  stop  at  anything.  He  says  she's  his 
daughter! — Not  often  a  man  does  all  he  does,  at 
his  age,  for  his  daughter! — He's  killing  himself,  he 
and  his  Auguste,  for  her.  Is  monsieur  like  me? 
I'd  give  twenty  francs  to  see  her.  Monsieur  Berton 
says  she's  a  monstrosity,  a  thing  to  exhibit  for 
money.  They  did  well  to  come  to  a  quarter  like 
ours  where  there  isn't  anybody.  By  the  way,  does 
monsieur  intend  to  dine  at  Madame  Machillot's?" 

"Yes,  I  intend  to  make  an  arrangement  with 
her." 

"I  don't  say  it  to  make  you  change  your  mind, 
monsieur;  but  as  eating-houses  go,  you'd  do  better 


THE   NOVICE  279 

to  go  and  dine  on  Rue  de  Tournon;  you  wouldn't 
be  bound  for  a  month  and  you'd  get  a  better 
dinner." 

"Where  do  you  say,  Rue  de  Tournon?" 

"At  Mere  Girard's  successor's. — The  gentlemen 
upstairs  often  go  there  and  they  like  it — oh!  you 
wouldn't  believe  how  much  they  like  it." 

"Very  well,  Mere  Vauthier,  I'll  follow  your  advice 
and  go  there  to  dine." 

"My  dear  monsieur,"  said  the  concierge,  embold- 
ened by  the  good-humored  air  that  Godefroid 
designedly  adopted,  "tell  me  honestly  if  you're 
enough  of  a  gull  to  think  of  paying  Monsieur 
Bernard's  debts? — I  should  be  very  sorry  to  hear  it; 
for  just  think,  my  dear  Monsieur  Godefroid,  he's 
almost  seventy,  and  after  he's  dead  and  gone, 
good-bye,  pension!  And  what  will  there  be  to  repay 
you?  Young  men  are  very  imprudent!  Do  you 
know  that  he  owes  more  than  a  thousand  crowns?" 

"To  whom?"  Godefroid  asked. 

"Oh!  to  whom?  that's  none  of  my  business,"  re- 
plied Dame  Vauthier  mysteriously;  "it's  enough  that 
he  owes  it,  and  between  you  and  me  he's  in  a  tight 
place,  for  he  can't  get  trusted  for  a  farthing  in  the 
quarter,  on  that  account." 

"A  thousand  crowns!"  Godefroid  repeated;  "you 
need  have  no  fear,  if  I  had  a  thousand  crowns  I 
should  not  be  a  tenant  of  yours.  You  see,  I  can't 
bear  to  see  others  suffer,  and  for  the  few  hundred 
francs  it  will  cost  me,  I  shall  know  that  my  neighbor 
— a  man  with  gray  hairs! — has  bread  and  wood. 


280  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

What  does  it  amount  to?  a  man  often  loses  as  much 
at  cards.  But  three  thousand  francs — good  God! 
think  of  it!" 

Mere  Vauthier,  misled  by  Godefroid's  pretended 
frankness,  allowed  a  smile  of  satisfaction  to  appear 
upon  her  insipid  face,  and  thereby  confirmed  her 
tenant's  suspicions.  Godefroid  was  convinced  that 
the  old  woman  was  an  accomplice  in  a  plot  against 
poor  Monsieur  Bernard. 

"It's  strange,  monsieur,  what  ideas  a  body  does 
get  in  her  head!  You'll  tell  me  that  I  am  very 
inquisitive,  but  when  I  saw  you  talking  with 
Monsieur  Bernard  yesterday,  I  fancied  that  you 
were  a  bookseller's  clerk,  for  this  is  the  quarter  for 
them.  I  used  to  have  a  proof-reader  from  a  printing- 
office  on  Rue  de  Vaugirard,  and  he  had  the  same 
name  as  you." 

"How  does  my  profession  concern  you?"  said 
Godefroid. 

"Bah!  whether  you  tell  me  or  don't  tell  me,  I 
shall  find  out  all  the  same,"  retorted  Dame  Vauthier. 
"Take  Monsieur  Bernard  for  example,  for  eighteen 
months  I  had  no  idea  who  he  was:  but  the  nine- 
teenth month  I  succeeded  in  discovering  that  he'd 
been  a  magistrate,  a  judge  or  something  to  do  with 
the  law,  and  that  he  writes  about  the  law.  What 
does  he  earn  at  it?  I  can  tell  him!  And  if  he  had 
trusted  me,  I'd  'a'  held  my  tongue. — There!" 

"I  am  not  a  publisher's  clerk  yet,  but  perhaps  I 
shall  be  soon." 

"I  suspected  as  much!"  said  the  widow  Vauthier 


THE  NOVICE  28l 

eagerly,  turning  away  from  the  bed  she  was  making 
in  order  to  have  a  pretext  for  remaining  with  her 
tenant.  "You  have  come  to  cut  the  grass  from 
under  the  feet  of — Good !  a  man  warned  is  as  good 
as  two — " 

"Stop  there!"  cried  Godefroid,  planting  himself 
between  the  Vauthier  and  the  door.  "Come,  what 
interest  do  they  give  you  in  this  business?" 

"Well!  well!"  rejoined  the  old  woman  with  a 
leer,  "you're  a  sharp  one,  on  my  word!" 

She  went  and  bolted  the  door  of  the  outer  room, 
then  returned  and  seated  herself  in  a  chair  by  the  fire. 

"On  my  honor,  as  sure  as  my  name's  Vauthier, 
I  took  you  for  a  student  until  I  saw  you  giving  your 
wood  to  Pere  Bernard.  Ah!  you're  a  sly  dog! 
On  my  word,  what  an  actor  you  are!  I  took  you 
for  a  gull!  Come,  will  you  promise  me  a  thousand 
francs?  As  true  as  the  sun  is  shining,  my  old 
Barbet  and  Monsieur  Metivier  have  promised  me 
five  hundred  francs  to  keep  an  eye  on  the  grain." 

"They!  five  hundred  francs! — nonsense!"  cried 
Godefroid;  "two  hundred  at  most,  mother,  and 
only  promised  at  that;  and  you  don't  dare  assign 
them! — If  you  should  put  me  in  the  way  to  do  the 
business  they  want  to  do  with  Monsieur  Bernard,  I 
would  give  four  hundred  francs! — Tell  me,  how  do 
they  stand?" 

"Why,  they  have  given  him  fifteen  hundred 
francs  on  his  book,  and  the  old  man  has  given  them 
a  bond  for  a  thousand  crowns.  They  doled  it  out 
to  him  a  hundred  francs  at  a  time — arranging  matters 


282  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

so  as  to  leave  him  in  poverty.  They're  the  ones 
who  set  the  creditors  on  him,  they  sent  Cartier 
here  for  certain — " 

At  that,  Godefroid  cast  a  shrewdly  ironical  glance 
at  Dame  Vauthier,  which  showed  her  that  he  under- 
stood the  r61e  she  was  playing  for  the  benefit  of  her 
landlord. 

That  last  phrase  was  a  twofold  source  of  enlighten- 
ment to  him,  for  the  strange  conversation  he  had 
had  with  the  gardener  was  explained  by  it. 

"Oh!"  she  continued,  "they've  got  him;  for 
where  can  he  ever  get  a  thousand  crowns?  They 
mean  to  offer  him  five  hundred  francs  on  the  day 
he  turns  the  book  over  to  them,  and  five  hundred 
francs  for  every  volume  offered  for  sale.  The 
business  is  done  in  the  name  of  a  bookseller  that 
those  two  gentlemen  have  set  up  in  business  on 
Quai  des  Augustins." 

"Oho!  little—?" 

"Yes,  that's  the  man,  Morand,  monsieur's  old 
clerk.  It  seems  there's  a  lot  of  money  to  be  made." 

"Oh!  there's  a  lot  of  money  to  be  sunk,"  said 
Godefroid,  with  a  knowing  wink. 

There  was  a  gentle  tap  at  the  door,  and  Gode- 
froid, well  pleased  at  the  interruption,  went  and 
opened  it. 

"What  is  said  is  said,  Mere  Vauthier,"  he 
remarked,  as  he  saw  that  his  visitor  was  Monsieur 
Bernard. 

"I  have  a  letter  for  you,  Monsieur  Bernard," 
cried  the  woman. 


THE   NOVICE  283 

The  old  man  went  down  two  or  three  stairs. 

"Well  no,  I  haven't  any  letter,  Monsieur  Bernard. 
I  simply  wanted  to  tell  you  to  mistrust  that  little 
fellow,  he's  a  publisher." 

"Ah!  that  explains  everything!"  said  the  old 
man  to  himself. 

And  he  returned  to  his  neighbor's  room  with  a 
completely  changed  expression. 

The  cold  tranquillity  of  Monsieur  Bernard's  feat- 
ures contrasted  so  strangely  with  the  affable,  ex- 
pansive manner  with  which  he  had  expressed  his 
gratitude,  that  Godefroid  was  impressed  by  such  a 
sudden  transformation. 

"I  beg  your  pardon  for  disturbing  you,  monsieur; 
but  you  have  overwhelmed  me  with  kindness  since 
yesterday,  and  the  benefactor  imposes  obligations 
upon  his  debtor." 

Godefroid  bowed. 

"For  five  years  past  I  have  suffered  the  passion 
of  Jesus  Christ  every  fortnight!  for  thirty-six  years 
I  represented  society,  the  government;  I  was  in 
those  days  the  public  vengeance,  and  as  you  can 
imagine,  I  lost  all  my  illusions — yes,  I  have  nothing 
but  sorrows  now:  being  what  I  am,  monsieur,  the 
consideration  you  showed  in  closing  the  door  of  the 
kennel  in  which  my  grandson  and  I  sleep — that 
trivial  act  was  to  me  the  glass  of  water  of  which 
Bossuet  speaks.  Yes,  I  found  once  more  in  my 
heart — in  this  exhausted  heart,  which  no  longer  has 
any  tears  to  shed,  as  my  body  no  longer  has  any 
sweat — I  found  the  last  drop  of  that  elixir  which,  in 


284  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

youth,  makes  us  look  upon  the  bright  side  of  all 
human  actions,  and  I  came  to  offer  you  this  hand, 
which  I  give  to  no  one  but  my  daughter;  I  came  to 
bring  you  the  divine  rose  of  belief  in  good — " 

"Monsieur  Bernard,"  said  Godefroid,  remember- 
ing the  excellent  Alain's  lessons,  "I  have  done 
nothing  with  the  object  of  earning  your  gratitude. 
You  are  mistaken  in  that." 

"Ah!  that  is  frankness!"  replied  the  ex-magistrate. 
"I  am  pleased  to  see  it.  I  was  about  to  reprove 
you — forgive  me!  I  esteem  you.  So  you  are  a 
publisher,  and  you  have  come  to  deprive  the  Barbet, 
Metivier,  Morand  people  of  my  work? — That  ex- 
plains everything.  You  make  advances  to  me  as 
they  have  done;  but  you  do  it  in  a  pleasant 
way." 

" Was  it  the  Vauthier  who  told  you  that  I  am  a 
publisher's  clerk?"  Godefroid  asked  the  old  man. 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

"Well,  Monsieur  Bernard,  if  you  wish  to  know 
what  I  can  give  you  above  what  those  gentlemen 
offer  you,  you  must  tell  me  what  conditions  you 
have  made  with  them." 

.  "That  is  fair,"  replied  the  ex-magistrate,  who 
seemed  delighted  to  find  himself  the  object  of  a 
rivalry  by  which  he  could  not  fail  to  gain.  "Do 
you  know  what  the  work  is?" 

"No,  I  simply  know  that  there's  money  in  it." 

"It  is  only  half-past  nine,  my  daughter  has  had 
her  breakfast,  my  grandson  Auguste  doesn't  come 
home  until  quarter  to  eleven,  Cartier  will  not  bring 


THE  NOVICE  285 

the  plants  for  an  hour:  we  have  time  to  talk  a 
little.— Monsieur — monsieur — ?" 

"Godefroid." 

"Monsieur  Godefroid,  the  work  in  question  was 
conceived  by  me  in  1825,  at  the  time  when  the 
ministry,  impelled  by  the  persistent  division  of  large 
estates,  proposed  the  law,  which  was  rejected, 
concerning  the  right  of  primogeniture.  I  had  noticed 
certain  imperfections  in  our  codes  and  in  the  basic 
institutions  of  France.  Our  codes  have  been  the 
subject  of  valuable  treatises;  but  all  those  treatises 
were  jurisprudence  pure  and  simple;  no  one  had 
dared  to  consider  the  work  of  the  Revolution,  or  of 
Napoleon  if  you  please,  in  its  entirety,  to  study 
the  spirit  of  those  laws,  to  criticise  them  in  their 
application.  That  is  the  main  idea  of  my  work;  it 
is  entitled  provisionally:  Esprit  des  Lois  Nouvelles; 
it  embraces  the  organic  laws  as  well  as  the  codes, 
all  the  codes,  for  we  have  many  more  than  five 
codes:  my  book  is  in  five  volumes,  with  a  volume 
of  citations,  notes  and  references.  I  still  have  three 
months'  work  upon  it.  The  proprietor  of  this  house, 
once  a  publisher,  divined,  scented  the  speculation 
from  some  questions  I  asked  him.  For  my  own 
part,  I  thought  originally  of  nothing  but  the  welfare 
of  my  country.  This  Barbet  circumvented  me. 
You  will  wonder  how  a  bookseller  could  succeed  in 
bedeviling  an  old  magistrate;  but  you  know  my 
story,  monsieur,  and  that  man  is  a  usurer;  he  has 
the  keen  glance  and  the  shrewdness  of  his  trade. 
His  money  has  always  trodden  close  on  my  needs. 


286  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

He  has  always  been  at  hand  on  the  day  when 
despair  made  me  defenceless." 

"Of  course,  my  dear  monsieur,"  said  Godefroid; 
"he  has  an  excellent  spy  in  Mere  Vauthier.  But 
the  conditions?  come,  tell  me  plainly  what  they 
are." 

"They  have  lent  me  fifteen  hundred  francs 
represented  to-day  by  three  notes  of  hand  for  a 
thousand  francs  each,  and  those  three  thousand 
francs  are  secured  by  an  agreement  concerning  the 
ownership  of  my  work,  which  I  cannot  dispose  of 
unless  I  first  pay  the  notes,  and  the  notes  are 
protested  and  have  gone  to  judgment.  There, 
monsieur,  are  the  complications  brought  about  by 
want.  At  the  very  lowest  estimate,  the  first  edition 
of  that  vast  work,  the  result  of  ten  years  of  toil  and 
thirty-six  years  of  experience,  would  be  worth  ten 
thousand  francs. — Well,  five  days  ago  Morand 
offered  me  a  thousand  crowns  and  my  three  notes 
for  the  absolute  title. — As  I  have  no  means  of 
procuring  three  thousand  two  hundred  and  forty 
francs,  I  must  submit  to  their  terms,  unless  you 
interpose  between  them  and  me. — They  are  not 
satisfied  with  my  honor;  they  insisted,  for  greater 
security,  upon  having  the  notes  protested  and  an 
order  of  arrest  issued  thereon.  If  I  pay  them,  the 
usurers  will  have  doubled  their  money;  if  I  make  a 
bargain  with  them,  they  will  have  a  fortune,  for 
one  of  them  is  a  former  paper  manufacturer,  and 
God  knows  how  far  they  can  cut  down  the  cost  of 
manufacture.  And,  as  they  have  my  name,  they 


THE   NOVICE  287 

know  that  the  sale  of  ten  thousand  copies  is 
assured." 

"What,  monsieur,  you,  a  former  magistrate — ?" 

"What  would  you  have?  not  a  friend!  not  a 
memory  to  invoke!  And  I  have  saved  many  heads, 
if  I  have  caused  the  fall  of  many!  And  then  my 
daughter,  my  daughter,  whose  nurse  I  am  and 
faithful  companion,  for  I  work  only  at  night! — Ah! 
young  man,  only  the  unfortunate  are  fitted  to  be 
judges  of  misery.  To-day  it  seems  to  me  that  I  was 
formerly  too  harsh." 

"I  do  not  ask  your  name,  monsieur.  I  have  not 
a  thousand  crowns  at  my  disposal,  especially  after 
paying  Halpersohn  and  your  small  debts;  but  I  will 
save  you,  if  you  will  promise  me  not  to  dispose  of 
your  book  until  I  am  notified;  for  it  is  impossible  to 
transact  an  affair  of  such  importance  without 
consulting  those  who  are  in  the  business.  My 
employers  are  people  of  influence,  and  I  can  promise 
you  success,  if  you  can  promise  me  absolute  secrecy, 
even  with  your  children,  and  hold  to  your  promise." 

"The  only  success  I  care  to  attain  is  my  poor 
Vanda's  restoration  to  health;  for,  monsieur,  such 
suffering  extinguishes  every  other  sentiment  in  a 
father's  heart,  and  love  of  renown  is  nothing  to  him 
who  sees  the  open  grave." 

"I  will  come  to  see  you  this  evening.  Halper- 
sohn is  expected  at  any  moment,  and  I  have  deter- 
mined to  go  every  day  and  see  if  he  has  arrived. 
I  propose  to  employ  the  whole  of  this  day  in  your 
service." 


288  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

"Ah!  if  you  should  be  responsible  for  my 
daughter's  cure,  monsieur — monsieur,  I  would  be 
glad  to  make  you  a  present  of  my  work!" 

"Monsieur,"  said  Godefroid,  "I  am  not  a  book- 
seller." 

The  old  man  made  a  gesture  of  astonishment. 

"What  would  you  have  had  me  do?  I  allowed  the 
old  Vauthier  to  think  that  I  was,  so  that  I  could  ascer- 
tain what  traps  were  laid  for  you." 

"What  are  you  then?" 

"Godefroid!"  the  novice  replied.  "And  as  you 
consent  to  allow  me  to  furnish  you  with  the  means 
of  living  more  bountifully,  you  may  call  me  Gode- 
froid de  Bouillon,"  he  added,  with  a  smile. 

The  ex-magistrate  was  too  deeply  moved  to 
laugh  at  the  jest.  He  held  out  his  hand  and  pressed 
the  hand  his  neighbor  gave  him. 

"You  propose  to  remain  incognito?"  said  the  old 
man,  gazing  at  Godefroid  with  an  expression  of 
melancholy  mingled  with  uneasiness. 

"Permit  me  to  do  so." 

"Very  well,  as  you  choose! — And  come  this 
evening;  you  shall  see  my  daughter,  if  her  condition 
makes  it  possible." 

That  was  evidently  the  greatest  concession  the 
poor  father  could  make;  and,  from  the  grateful 
glance  that  Godefroid  bestowed  upon  him,  he  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  that  he  was  understood. 

An  hour  later  Cartier  arrived  with  some  beautiful 
plants,  replenished  the  jardinieres  himself  and  put 
fresh  moss  in  them,  and  Godefroid  paid  the  bill,  as 


THE   NOVICE  289 

well  as  the  note  due  at  the  book  stall,  which  was 
sent  a  few  moments  after.  Books  and  flowers  were 
the  daily  bread  of  the  poor,  sick,  we  ought  rather 
to  say  tortured  woman,  who  was  content  with  so 
little  food. 


* 

As  he  thought  of  that  family  writhing  in  the  coils 
of  misfortune,  like  Laocoon's — that  sublime  image 
of  so  many  lives! — Godefroid,  walking  toward  Rue 
Marbeuf,  felt  in  his  heart  even  .niore  curiosity  than 
benevolence.  That  invalid  surrounded  with  luxury 
in  the  midst  of  ghastly  poverty  caused  him  to  forget 
the  shocking  details  of  the  most  extraordinary  of 
nervous  affections,  which  very  luckily  is  of  most 
infrequent  occurrence,  although  mentioned  by  some 
historians;  one  of  our  most  gossipy  chroniclers, 
Tallemant  des  Reaux,  cites  an  instance  of  it.  We 
love  to  think  of  women  as  elegant  and  refined  even 
in  their  most  terrible  suffering:  and  so  Godefroid 
anticipated  a  sort  of  pleasure  in  being  admitted  to 
that  room,  which  none  but  the  physicians,  the 
father  and  the  son  had  entered  for  six  years.  He 
ended  however  by  rebuking  himself  for  his  curiosity. 
Novice  as  he  was,  he  realized  that  that  very  natural 
sentiment  would  eventually  die  away  as  he  con- 
tinued to  exercise  his  charitable  ministry,  and  to  see 
other  homes,  other  sorrows. 

One  does  in  fact  attain  at  last  the  divine  loving- 
kindness,  which  is  surprised  at  nothing,  just  as  in 
love  one  attains  the  stage  of  sublime  tranquillity, 
sure  of  the  strength  and  enduring  quality  of  the 
sentiment,  by  constant  familiarity  with  its  pains  and 
its  pleasures. 

(291) 


2Q2  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Godefroid  learned  that  Halpersohn  had  returned 
home  during  the  night;  but  in  the  morning  he  had 
been  obliged  to  take  his  carriage  and  visit  his 
patients,  who  were  waiting  for  him.  The  concierge 
told  Godefroid  to  come  the  next  day  before  nine 
o'clock. 

Remembering  Monsieur  Alain's  injunctions  as  to 
the  parsimony  which  must  govern  his  personal 
expenditures,  Godefroid  dined  for  twenty-five  sous 
on  Rue  de  Tournon,  and  was  rewarded  for  his 
self-abnegation  by  finding  himself  surrounded  by 
compositors  and  proof-readers.  He  overheard  a  dis- 
cussion, in  which  he  took  part,  as  to  the  price  of 
making  books,  and  he  learned  that  an  octavo 
volume,  composed  of  forty  sheets,  of  which  a  thou- 
sand copies  were  printed,  did  not  cost  more  than 
thirty  sous  per  copy,  under  the  most  favorable  con- 
ditions. He  determined  to  go  about  and  ascertain 
the  prices  at  which  publishers  of  law-books  sold 
their  volumes,  in  order  to  be  prepared  to  carry  on  a 
discussion  with  the  publishers  who  had  Monsieur 
Bernard  in  their  clutches,  if  he  should  fall  in  with 
them. 

About  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening  he  returned 
to  Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnasse  through  Rue  de 
Vaugirard,  Rue  Madame  and  Rue  de  1'Ouest,  and  he 
realized  how  deserted  the  neighborhood  was,  for  he 
did  not  see  a  single  person.  To  be  sure  it  was 
bitter  cold,  the  snow  was  falling  in  huge  flakes  and 
the  carriages  made  no  sound  on  the  pavements. 

"Ah!  there  you  are,  monsieur!"  said  the  widow 


THE  NOVICE  293 

Vauthier,  as  Godefroid  appeared;  "if  I  had  known 
you'd  be  home  so  early,  I'd  have  made  a  fire." 

"It's  not  necessary,"  said  Godefroid,  seeing  that 
the  woman  was  following  him;  "I  shall  pass  the 
evening  with  Monsieur  Bernard." 

"Oho!  you  must  be  his  cousin  then,  to  be  hand 
and  glove  with  him  the  second  day. — I  thought 
monsieur  would  finish  the  conversation  we  began." 

"Oh  yes!  the  four  hundred  francs!"  said  Gode- 
froid in  an  undertone.  "Look  you,  Mamma  Vau- 
thier, you  could  have  had  them  to-night  if  you 
hadn't  said  anything  to  Monsieur  Bernard.  You  try 
to  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone,  and  you  miss  both 
of  them;  for,  so  far  as  I  am  concerned,  you  gave  me 
away, — my  affair  has  fallen  through." 

"Don't  think  that,  my  dear  monsieur.  To-mor- 
row, while  you're  eating  your  breakfast — " 

"Oh!  to-morrow  I  am  going  away  at  daybreak, 
like  your  authors  upstairs." 

Godefroid's  previous  experiences,  his  life  as  a 
man  of  fashion  and  a  journalist,  had  served  him  in 
good  stead,  in  that  he  had  acquired  sufficient 
shrewdness  to  see  that,  if  he  acted  otherwise, 
Barbet's  accomplice  would  go  to  warn  the  ex- 
publisher  that  there  was  some  danger  ahead,  and 
that  proceedings  would  be  begun  in  such  a  way  as 
to  deprive  Monsieur  Bernard  of  his  liberty  in  short 
order;  whereas,  if  that  trio  of  grasping  usurers  were 
given  to  understand  that  their  combination  was  in 
no  danger  of  shipwreck,  they  would  remain  quiet. 
But  Godefroid  did  not  as  yet  know  Parisian  nature 


2Q4  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

when  disguised  in  the  garb  of  a  widow  Vauthier. 
The  woman  proposed  to  obtain  Godefroid's  money 
and  her  landlord's  as  well.  She  hurried  away  at 
once  to  her  Monsieur  Barbet,  while  Godefroid  was 
changing  his  clothes  preparatory  to  calling  upon 
Monsieur  Bernard's  daughter. 

The  clock  on  the  Convent  of  the  Visitation,  the 
public  clock  of  the  quarter,  was  striking  eight  when 
the  curiosity-ridden  Godefroid  knocked  softly  at  his 
neighbor's  door.  It  was  opened  by  Auguste,  who 
had  the  evening  to  himself,  it  being  a  Saturday. 
He  was  dressed  in  a  short  black  velvet  coat,  black 
velvet  trousers  of  neat  appearance  and  a  blue  silk 
cravat;  but  Godefroid's  amazement  at  seeing  the 
young  man  in  such  different  guise,  suddenly  ceased 
when  he  found  himself  in  the  invalid's  room:  he 
realized  how  necessary  it  was  that  both  father  and 
son  should  be  well  dressed. 

In  truth,  the  contrast  between  the  wretchedness 
of  the  room  he  had  seen  in  the  morning  and  the 
sumptuousness  of  this  other  room  was  so  great  that 
Godefroid  was  inevitably  dazzled  by  it,  although  he 
was  accustomed  to  the  luxurious  and  refined  sur- 
roundings of  wealth. 

The  walls,  hung  with  yellow  silk  relieved  by 
bright  green  fringe,  imparted  an  air  of  gayety,  so 
to  speak,  to  the  room,  the  floor  of  which  was 
concealed  by  a  flowered  moquette  carpet  with  a 
white  ground.  The  two  windows,  hung  with  beau- 
tiful double  curtains  of  white  silk,  formed  two 
lovely  gardens,  as  it  were,  the  jardinieres  were  so 


THE  NOVICE  295 

abundantly  filled.  All  this  magnificence,  so  rare  in 
that  quarter,  was  hidden  from  the  outside  world  by 
close  blinds.  The  woodwork  was  painted  a  pure 
white,  relieved  by  occasional  lines  of  gold. 

At  the  door  was  a  heavy  embroidered  portiere, 
with  a  yellow  background  and  fanciful  leaves,  which 
shut  out  all  noise  from  without.  That  superb 
portiere  was  the  work  of  the  invalid,  who  worked 
like  a  fairy  when  she  had  the  use  of  her  hands. 

At  the  end  of  the  room,  opposite  the  door,  was 
the  fireplace,  with  a  mantel-shelf  upholstered  in 
green  velvet  upon  which  were  divers  extremely 
elegant  objects  of  art,  the  only  relics  of  the  opulent 
days  of  the  two  families: — a  curious  clock,  an 
elephant  bearing  a  porcelain  tower,  filled  with  a 
profusion  of  flowers,  two  candelabra  of  the  same 
style,  and  valuable  Chinese  ornaments.  Fender, 
fire-dogs,  shovel,  tongs,  all  were  of  the  most 
expensive  kind. 

The  largest  jardiniere  stood  in  the  centre  of  the 
room,  beneath  a  centre-piece  of  rose-work  from 
which  depended  a  chandelier  of  flowered  porcelain. 

The  bed  on  which  the  magistrate's  daughter  lay 
was  one  of  the  beautiful  carved  beds,  in  white  and 
gold,  which  were  made  under  Louis  XV.  By  the 
invalid's  pillow  stood  a  pretty  inlaid  table,  on  which 
was  everything  necessary  for  the  comfort  of  that 
bedridden  life.  Against  the  wall  was  a  candelabrum 
with  two  branches,  which  could  be  moved  forward 
or  back  with  the  slightest  touch  of  the  hand.  A 
small  table,  most  conveniently  arranged  and  adapted 


296  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

to  the  wants  of  the  invalid,  stood  in  front  of  her. 
The  bed,  covered  with  a  superb  counterpane  and 
hung  with  curtains  caught  back  by  bands  of  silk,  was 
laden  with  books  and  a  work-basket;  and  Godefroid 
could  hardly  have  distinguished  the  invalid  under 
all  those  things,  except  for  the  two  candles  in  the 
movable  candlestick. 

There  was  naught  but  a  very  pale  face,  darkened 
around  the  eyes  by  pain,  in  which  gleamed  two 
flashing  eyes,  and  which  displayed,  as  its  principal 
ornament,  a  mass  of  magnificent  black  hair,  of 
which  the  numberless  carefully-arranged  long  curls 
showed  that  the  arrangement  and  care  of  her  hair 
occupied  the  invalid  a  part  of  the  morning,  as  was 
also  indicated  by  a  portable  mirror  at  the  foot  of  the 
bed. 

No  one  of  the  modern  refinements  of  luxury  was 
lacking.  A  few  gewgaws,  provided  for  poor 
Vanda's  amusement,  proved  that  that  paternal  love 
sometimes  reached  the  point  of  delirium. 

The  old  man  rose  from  a  superb  white  and  gold 
Louis  XV.  couch,  upholstered  in  tapestry,  and 
stepped  forward  to  meet  Godefroid,  who  most 
assuredly  would  not  have  recognized  him,  for  the 
cold,  stern  features  wore  the  animated  expression 
peculiar  to  old  men  who  have  retained  the  nobility 
of  manner  and  the  apparent  light-heartedness  of  the 
courtier.  His  puce-colored  gown  harmonized  with 
his  luxurious  surroundings,  and  he  took  snuff  from 
a  gold  snuff-box  enriched  with  diamonds! 

"This,  my  dear  child,"  said  Monsieur  Bernard  to 


THE   NOVICE  297 

his  daughter,  taking  Godefroid  by  the  hand,  "is  our 
neighbor  of  whom  I  have  told  you." 

He  motioned  to  his  grandson  to  bring  one  of  the 
two  easy-chairs,  similar  to  the  couch,  which  stood 
one  on  each  side  of  the  fireplace. 

"Monsieur's  name  is  Monsieur  Godefroid,  and  he 
is  full  of  sympathy  for  us." 

Vanda  moved  her  head  in  reply  to  Godefroid's 
bow;  and  by  the  way  in  which  her  neck  bent  for- 
ward and  back,  Godefroid  saw  that  all  the  invalid's 
life  resided  in  her  head.  The  emaciated  arms,  the 
flabby  hands  lay  upon  the  fine,  white  sheet,  like 
objects  foreign  to  the  body,  which  seemed  to  take 
up  no  space  in  the  bed.  The  necessary  articles  for 
the  invalid's  use  were  behind  the  headboard  of  the 
bed,  in  a  cabinet  with  a  silk  curtain. 

"You,  monsieur,  are  the  first  person,  except  the 
doctors,  who  have  ceased  to  be  men  in  my  eyes, 
whom  I  have  seen  for  six  years;  you  cannot  imagine 
therefore  the  interest  you  have  aroused  in  me  since 
my  father  told  me  of  your  promised  visit. — No,  it 
was  an  unmanageable,  passionate  curiosity,  like 
that  felt  by  our  mother  Eve.  My  father,  who  is  so 
kind  to  me,  my  son,  whom  I  love  so  dearly,  are 
most  certainly  sufficient  to  fill  the  desert  of  a  heart 
now  almost  without  a  body;  but  that  heart  continues 
to  be  a  woman,  after  all!  I  realized  it  from  the 
childish  joy  that  the  hope  of  a  visit  from  you  afforded 
me.  You  will  do  me  the  pleasure  of  taking  a  cup 
of  tea  with  us,  won't  you?" 

"Monsieur  promised  me  the  evening,"  said  the 


298  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

old  man,  with  the  grace  of  a  millionaire  doing  the 
honors  of  his  mansion. 

Auguste  was  sitting  on  an  embroidered  chair,  by 
a  little  inlaid  table  with  copper  ornaments,  reading 
a  book  by  the  light  of  the  candles  on  the  mantel. 

"Auguste,  my  child,  tell  Jean  to  come  and  serve 
tea  in  an  hour." 

She  accompanied  the  words  with  a  meaning 
glance,  to  which  Auguste  replied  by  a  sign. 

"Would  you  believe,  monsieur,  that  I  have  had 
no  other  servants  than  my  father  and  my  son  for  six 
years,  and  I  could  not  endure  any  others  now.  If 
they  should  fail  me,  I  should  die.  My  father  won't 
allow  Jean,  a  poor  Norman  who  has  been  in  our 
service  thirty  years,  to  come  into  my  room." 

"I  should  think  not!"  said  the  old  man  slyly; 
"monsieur  has  seen  him;  he  saws  the  wood  and 
brings  it  up,  he  cooks,  he  does  errands,  he  wears  a 
dirty  apron;  he  would  ruin  all  these  fine  things,  so 
necessary  in  the  eyes  of  my  poor  daughter,  to 
whom  this  room  is  the  whole  of  nature — " 

"Ah!  madame,  monsieur  your  father  is  quite 
right—" 

"Why  so?"  said  she.  "If  Jean  had  ruined  my 
room,  my  father  would  have  refurnished  it." 

"True,  my  child;  but  what  deters  me  from  doing 
it  is  that  you  cannot  leave  it;  and  you  don't  know 
the  upholsterers  of  Paris !  They  would  take  more 
than  three  months  to  refurnish  your  room.  Think 
of  the  dust  that  would  come  from  your  carpet  if  it 
should  be  taken  up.  Let  Jean  take  care  of  your 


THE  NOVICE  299 

room!  Can  you  think  of  such  a  thing?  By  taking 
the  minute  precautions  of  which  a  father  and  a  son 
are  capable,  we  have  spared  you  the  annoyance  of 
sweeping  and  dust.  If  Jean  should  so  much  as 
come  into  the  room  to  wait  on  us,  it  would  be  all 
over  in  a  month." 

"It  isn't  from  economy,"  said  Godefroid,  "it  is 
for  the  good  of  your  health.  Monsieur  your  father 
is  right." 

"I  don't  complain,"  replied  Vanda  in  a  coquettish 
tone. 

Her  voice  produced  the  effect  of  a  concert.  Mind, 
movement  and  life  were  all  concentrated  in  the 
voice  and  the  expression;  for  Vanda,  by  studies  for 
which  she  certainly  had  had  abundant  time,  had 
succeeded  in  overcoming  the  difficulties  caused  by 
the  loss  of  her  teeth. 

"I  am  happy  still,  monsieur,  even  in  the  horrible 
misfortune  with  which  I  am  afflicted;  for  abundant 
means  are  certainly  of  great  assistance  in  enduring 
my  suffering.  If  we  had  been  poor,  I  should  have 
died  eighteen  years  ago,  and  I  am  still  alive! — I  have 
enjoyments,  and  they  are  the  keener  because  they 
are  constant  victories  over  death. — You  will  consider 
me  very  talkative!"  she  added  with  a  smile. 

"Madame,"  Godefroid  replied,  "I  could  entreat 
you  to  talk  all  the  time,  for  I  have  never  heard  a 
voice  to  be  compared  to  yours — it  is  genuine  music! 
Rubini  is  not  more  enchanting — " 

"Do  not  speak  of  Rubini,  of  the  Italiens,"  said 
the  old  man  with  a  tinge  of  melancholy  in  his  tone. 


300  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

"Rich  as  we  are,  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  afford 
my  daughter,  who  was  a  great  musician,  that 
pleasure,  which  she  is  mad  to  enjoy." 

"Pardon  me,"  said  Godefroid. 

"You  will  become  accustomed  to  us,"  said  the 
old  man. 

"This  is  the  process,"  said  the  invalid  with  a 
smile.  "When  we  have  cried  casse-cou  at  you 
several  times,  you  will  be  familiar  with  the  blind- 
man's-buff  of  our  conversation." 

Godefroid  exchanged  a  swift  glance  with  Monsieur 
Bernard,  who,  seeing  tears  in  his  neighbor's  eyes, 
put  his  finger  to  his  lips  to  entreat  him  not  to  be 
found  wanting  in  the  heroism  that  he  and  his 
grandson  had  displayed  for  seven  years. 

This  sublime,  never-ending  imposture,  evidenced 
by  the  absolute  illusion  of  the  invalid,  produced 
upon  Godefroid  the  effect  of  looking  down  a  sheer 
precipice,  which  two  chamois-hunters  were  descend- 
ing with  perfect  ease.  The  magnificent  gold  snuff- 
box, studded  with  diamonds,  with  which  the  old 
man  carelessly  toyed,  sitting  at  the  foot  of  his 
daughter's  bed,  was  like  the  stroke  of  genius  in  the 
work  of  a  man  of  talent,  that  evokes  a  cry  of 
admiration.  Godefroid  looked  at  the  snuff-box, 
wondering  why  it  was  not  sold  or  at  the  Mont-de- 
Piete;  he  determined  to  mention  it  to  the  old  man. 

"My  daughter  was  so  excited  when  I  told  her  of 
your  visit  this  evening,  Monsieur  Godefroid,  that  all 
the  extraordinary  phenomena  of  her  disease,  which 
have  driven  us  to  despair  for  twelve  days  past, 


THE  NOVICE  301 

have  completely  disappeared. — Judge  if  I  am  grate- 
ful to  you!" 

"And  I!"  cried  the  invalid  in  a  coaxing  tone  and 
bending  toward  him  with  a  movement  instinct  with 
coquetry.  "To  me  monsieur  is  the  deputy  of 
society.  Since  I  was  twenty  years  old,  monsieur, 
I  have  not  known  what  a  salon  is,  an  evening  party, 
a  ball.  And  remember  that  1  love  dancing,  that  I 
am  wild  over  the  theatre,  and  that  I  dote  on  music 
above  all  things.  I  divine  everything  by  thought! 
I  read  much.  Then  my  father  tells  me  what  is 
going  on  in  society." 

As  she  said  that,  Godefroid  started  as  if  to  bend 
his  knee  to  the  poor  old  man. 

"Yes,  when  he  goes  to  the  Italiens,  and  he  goes 
very  often,  he  describes  the  ladies'  dresses  and  the 
effect  the  singing  produces  on  him.  Oh!  I  would 
like  to  be  cured,  in  the  first  place  on  my  father's 
account,  for  he  lives  only  for  me  as  I  live  for  him 
and  in  him;  and  secondly,  for  my  son,  to  whom  I 
would  like  to  give  a  different  mother!  Ah!  monsieur, 
such  accomplished  creatures  my  old  father  and  my 
excellent  son  are! — I  would  like  my  health  too,  so 
that  I  could  hear  Lablache,  Rubini,  Tamburini, 
Grisi  and  /  Puritani.  But — " 

"Come,  come,  my  child,  be  calm. — If  we  talk 
music,  we  are  lost!"  said  the  old  man  with  a 
smile. 

He  smiled,  and  the  smile,  which  made  his  face 
much  younger,  evidently  was  always  successful  in 
deceiving  his  daughter. 


302  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"Well,  I  will  be  very  good,"  said  Vanda  with  a 
rebellious  pout;  "but  give  me  an  accordion." 

That  instrument  was  then  newly  invented;  it 
could,  if  desired,  be  placed  on  the  invalid's  bed  and 
required  only  the  pressure  of  the  foot  to  produce 
notes  like  those  of  the  organ.  In  its  most  elaborate 
form  it  was  equal  to  a  piano;  but  it  cost  three 
hundred  francs.  The  invalid,  who  read  the  news- 
papers and  reviews,  knew  of  the  existence  of  such  an 
instrument  and  had  longed  for  one  for  two  months. 

"Yes,  madame,  you  shall  have  one,"  Godefroid 
replied,  in  obedience  to  a  glance  from  the  old  man. 
"A  friend  of  mine,  who  is  just  starting  for  Algiers, 
has  a  fine  one  which  I  will  borrow;  so  before  pur- 
chasing one,  you  will  be  able  to  try  that.  It  is 
possible  that  the  notes,  which  are  very  loud  and 
penetrating,  will  be  disagreeable  to  you — " 

"Can  I  have  it  to-morrow?"  she  asked,  with  the 
animation  of  a  Creole. 

"To-morrow  will  be  too  soon,"  observed  Monsieur 
Bernard,  "besides,  to-morrow  is  Sunday." 

"Ah!"  she  said,  glancing  at  Godefroid,  who 
fancied  that  he  saw  a  soul  flashing  in  Vanda's  eyes  as 
he  watched  with  admiration  her  ubiquitous  glance. 

Until  that  moment,  Godefroid  had  known  nothing 
of  the  power  of  the  voice  and  eyes,  when  they  have 
become  the  whole  life.  Her  glance  was  no  longer 
a  mere  glance,  it  was  a  flame,  or,  better  still,  a 
divine  flash,  a  sentient  beam  of  life  and  understand- 
ing, visible  thought!  The  voice  with  its  ever- 
varying  intonations  took  the  place  of  movements, 


THE  NOVICE  303 

gestures,  poses  of  the  head.  The  variations  of  the 
complexion,  which  changed  color  like  the  fabulous 
chameleon,  made  the  illusion,  or,  if  you  please,  the 
mirage,  complete.  That  face,  drawn  by  pain,  buried 
in  that  pillow  of  fine  linen  trimmed  with  lace,  was  a 
whole  person  in  itself. 

Never  in  his  life  had  Godefroid  gazed  upon  such 
a  grand  spectacle;  his  capacity  for  emotion  was 
hardly  sufficient.  Another  sublime  feature — for 
everything  was  anomalous  in  that  poetic,  yet  awful 
state  of  affairs — was  this:  the  mind  alone  lived  in 
the  spectators!  That  atmosphere,  filled  with  senti- 
ment exclusively,  had  a  divine  influence.  One  was 
no  more  conscious  of  his  body  than  the  sick  woman 
of  hers;  one  seemed  to  be  all  mind.  By  dint  of 
gazing  upon  that  fragile  remnant  of  a  pretty  woman, 
Godefroid  forgot  the  numerous  luxurious  details  of 
the  room,  he  fancied  that  he  was  floating  through 
the  sky.  Not  for  half  an  hour  did  he  notice  a 
cabinet  filled  with  curiosities  standing  beneath  a 
superb  portrait  which  the  invalid  asked  him  to 
examine,  for  it  was  a  Gericault. 

"Gericault  was  from  Rouen,"  she  said,  "and  as 
his  family  was  under  some  obligations  to  my  father, 
the  first  president,  he  thanked  us  with  that  master- 
piece, in  which  you  see  me  at  the  age  of  sixteen." 

"You  have  a  very  beautiful  picture,"  said  Gode- 
froid, "and  altogether  unknown  to  those  who  have 
studied  the  exceedingly  rare  works  of  that  genius." 

"To  me,"  she  said,  "it  is  now  simply  a  thing  that 
I  am  attached  to,  for  I  live  only  through  the  heart; 


304  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

and  I  have  the  loveliest  life,"  she  added,  glancing  at 
her  father  and  putting  her  whole  soul  into  the  glance. 
"Ah!  monsieur,  if  you  knew  what  my  father  is! 
Who  could  ever  believe  that  that  great  and  stern 
magistrate,  to  whom  the  Emperor  was  under  such 
great  obligations  that  he  gave  him  that  snuff-box, 
and  whom  Charles  X.  attempted  to  reward  with  that 
cabinet  of  Sevres  ware,"  she  said,  pointing  to  the 
cabinet;  "who  could  believe  that  that  firm  upholder 
of  the  government  and  the  law,  that  learned  pub- 
licist, has,  in  a  heart  of  stone,  a  mother's  softness  of 
heart? — Oh!  papa!  papa!  kiss  me — come,  you  must 
come,  if  you  love  me!" 

The  old  man  rose,  leaned  over  the  bed  and  kissed 
the  noble,  poetic,  white  brow  of  his  daughter,  whose 
frenzies  did  not  always  resemble  that  tempest  of 
affection. 

The  old  man  walked  back  and  forth;  he  wore 
slippers  embroidered  by  his  daughter,  and  he  made 
no  sound. 

"What  is  your  business,  monsieur?"  she  asked 
Godefroid,  after  a  pause. 

"Madame,  I  am  employed  by  certain  devout 
persons  to  assist  those  who  are  very  unfortunate." 

"Ah!  what  a  beautiful  mission,  monsieur!"  she 
said.  "Do  you  know  that  I  have  had  an  idea 
of  devoting  myself  to  that  same  calling?  But  what 
ideas  have  I  not  had?"  she  continued,  with  a  move- 
ment of  the  head.  "Pain  is  like  a  torch  that 
illumines  one's  life.  So,  if  I  should  recover  my 
health—" 


THE   NOVICE  305 

"You  would  amuse  yourself,  my  child,"  the  old 
man  interrupted. 

"Certainly,"  she  replied,  "I  long  to  do  it,  but 
shall  I  be  able?  My  son,  I  trust,  will  be  a  magistrate 
worthy  of  his  two  grandfathers,  and  he  will  leave 
me.  What  am  I  to  do?  If  God  restores  my  life,  I 
shall  devote  it  to  Him!  Oh!  but  not  until  I  have 
given  you  both  all  that  you  want  of  it!"  she  cried, 
glancing  at  her  father  and  her  son.  "There  are 
moments,  father  dear,  when  Monsieur  de  Maistre's 
ideas  work  upon  me,  and  I  believe  that  I  am  expiat- 
ing some  crime." 

"That's  what  comes  of  reading  so  much!"  cried 
the  old  man,  evidently  grieved. 

"That  gallant  Polish  general,  my  great  grand- 
father, was  innocently  involved  in  the  partition  of 
Poland." 

"Well,  well,  now  comes  Poland!"  exclaimed 
Bernard. 

"What  can  you  expect,  papa?  my  suffering  is 
infernal,  it  gives  me  a  horror  of  life,  it  inspires  me 
with  disgust  of  myself.  Well,  tell  me  how  I  have 
deserved  it?  Such  diseases  are  not  simply  a  dis- 
turbance of  the  health,  the  whole  organization  is 
perverted,  and — " 

"Sing  the  national  air  your  poor  mother  used  to 
sing;  monsieur  will  like  to  hear  you  for  I  have  told 
him  about  your  voice,"  said  the  old  man,  evidently 
seeking  to  divert  his  daughter's  mind  from  the 
direction  it  had  taken. 

Vanda  began  to  sing  in  a  low,  soft  voice,  a  ballad 
20 


306  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

in  the  Polish  tongue,  at  which  Godefroid  was  almost 
dazed  with  admiration  and  transfixed  with  sadness. 
The  melody,  which  was  not  unlike  the  drawling, 
melancholy  airs  of  Bretagne,  was  one  of  those  that 
echo  in  the  heart  long  after  one  has  ceased  to  hear 
them.  As  he  listened  to  Vanda,  Godefroid  looked 
at  her,  but  he  could  not  endure  the  ecstatic  glance 
of  that  poor  wreck  of  a  woman,  almost  a  madwoman 
in  fact,  and  he  let  his  eyes  rest  on  the  tassels  that 
hung  from  each  corner  of  the  canopy  of  the  bed. 

"Ha!  ha!"  said  Vanda,  beginning  to  laugh  at 
Godefroid's  close  scrutiny,  "you  are  wondering 
what  those  are  used  for,  aren't  you?" 

"Vanda!  Vanda!  be  calm,  my  child!  See,  here's 
the  tea,"  said  the  father. — "This  is  a  very  expensive 
machine,  monsieur,"  he  said  to  Godefroid.  "My 
daughter  cannot  lift  herself,  nor  can  she  stay  in  bed 
unless  the  bed  is  made  and  the  sheets  changed. 
These  cords  pass  through  pulleys,  and  by  passing 
under  her  a  square  piece  of  leather  with  rings  at  the 
corners  through  which  those  cords  are  passed,  we 
can  raise  her  without  tiring  her  or  ourselves." 

"They  raise  me!"  repeated  Vanda  wildly. 

Luckily  Auguste  appeared,  bringing  a  tea-pot, 
which  he  placed  upon  a  little  table,  upon  which  he 
placed  the  Sevres  tea  service  also,  together  with 
sandwiches  and  cakes.  Next  he  brought  cream  and 
butter.  That  sight  suddenly  produced  an  entire 
change  in  the  invalid's  symptoms,  which  had 
indicated  the  approach  of  a  nervous  attack. 

"See,  Vanda,  here  is   Nathan's   new  novel.     If 


THE   NOVICE  307 

you  lie  awake  to-night,  you'll  have  something  to 
read." 

"La  Perle  de  Doll  Ah!  that  must  be  a  love 
story. — Auguste,  do  you  know,  I  am  to  have  an 
accordion?" 

Auguste  suddenly  raised  his  head  and  glanced  at 
his  grandfather  with  a  curious  expression. 

"See  how  he  loves  his  mother!"  continued 
Vanda.  "Come  and  kiss  me,  my  little  puss.  No, 
you  must  thank  this  gentleman  and  not  your  grand- 
father, for  our  neighbor  is  going  to  lend  me  one 
to-morrow  morning. — How  is  it  made,  monsieur?" 

At  a  sign  from  the  old  man  Godefroid  explained 
the  construction  of  the  accordion  at  length,  as  he 
sipped  his  tea,  which  was  brewed  by  Auguste,  and, 
being  of  superior  quality,  was  delicious. 

About  half-past  ten,  the  novice  retired,  weary  of 
contemplating  the  insane  struggle  of  the  father  and 
son,  but  admiring  their  heroism  and  the  patience 
with  which  day  after  day  they  played  their  double 
roles,  both  equally  distressing. 

"Well,"  said  Monsieur  Bernard,  following  him  to 
his  room,  "now  you  understand,  monsieur,  the  life 
I  lead!  Every  hour  I  endure  the  suspense  of  the 
robber,  listening  intently  to  the  slightest  sound.  A 
word,  a  gesture  might  kill  my  daughter!  A  bauble 
missing  from  among  those  she  is  accustomed  to  see 
every  day  would  reveal  the  whole  truth  to  that 
mind,  which  sees  through  the  walls." 

"Monsieur,"  replied  Godefroid,  "on  Monday, 
Halpersohn  will  pass  judgment  on  your  daughter, 


308  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

for  he  has  returned.  I  doubt  if  science  can  restore 
her  bodily  strength — " 

"Oh!  I  do  not  expect  it,"  said  the  ex-magistrate 
with  a  sigh;  "but  if  he  only  can  render  life  endur- 
able to  her.  I  relied  upon  your  quick  perception, 
monsieur,  and  I  wanted  to  thank  you,  for  you 
grasped  the  whole  situation. — Ah!  she  is  having  one 
of  her  attacks!"  he  cried,  as  he  heard  a  shriek 
through  the  partition;  "she  has  gone  beyond  her 
strength." 

He  pressed  Godefroid's  hand  and  hastened  back 
to  his  own  apartments. 


The  next  morning,  at  eight  o'clock,  Godefroid 
knocked  at  the  door  of  the  famous  Polish  physician. 
He  was  escorted  by  a  footman  to  the  first  floor  of 
the  little  house,  which  he  had  had  time  to  examine 
while  the  concierge  was  finding  and  summoning  the 
servant. 

Luckily,  as  he  expected,  Godefroid's  promptness 
saved  him  the  tedium  of  waiting;  he  was,  in  all 
probability,  the  first  arrival.  From  a  very  simply 
furnished  reception  room,  he  passed  into  a  large 
study,  where  he  found  an  old  man  in  a  dressing- 
gown,  smoking  a  long  pipe.  The  dressing-gown, 
which  was  of  shiny  black  bombazine,  dated  back  to 
the  Polish  emigration. 

"What  can  I  do  for  you,"  said  the  doctor,  "for 
you  are  not  sick." 

And  he  bestowed  upon  Godefroid  a  glance  in 
which  there  was  the  curious  puzzling  expression 
characteristic  of  the  eyes  of  the  Polish  Jew,  those 
eyes  which  seem  to  have  ears. 

Halpersohn  was,  to  Godefroid's  vast  surprise,  a 
man  of  some  fifty -six  years,  with  short  Turkish  legs 
and  a  broad,  powerful  chest.  There  was  a  sugges- 
tion of  the  oriental  about  him,  and  his  face  must 
have  been  very  handsome  in  his  youth;  he  still 
possessed  a  genuine  Hebrew  nose,  long  and  hooked 
like  a  Damascus  scimitar.  The  forehead,  a  true 
(309) 


310  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

Polish  forehead,  broad  and  noble,  but  wrinkled  like 
crumpled  paper,  recalled  the  forehead  of  St.  Joseph 
in  the  paintings  of  the  old  Italian  masters.  The  sea- 
green  eyes,  set  in  grayish,  wrinkled  membranes, 
like  a  parrot's  eyes,  expressed  a  high  degree  of 
craft  and  avarice.  Lastly  his  mouth,  slit  like  a 
wound,  added  to  that  sinister  countenance  all  the 
ugliness  of  suspicion. 

That  pale,  thin  face — for  Halpersohn  was  remark- 
ably thin — surmounted  by  unkempt  black  hair,  was 
adorned  by  a  very  long  and  heavy  black  beard, 
sprinkled  with  white,  which  concealed  the  lower 
half  of  the  face,  so  that  one  saw  only  the  forehead, 
eyes,  nose,  cheek-bones  and  mouth. 

This  friend  of  the  revolutionist  Lelewel  wore  a 
black  velvet  cap,  which  made  a  black  point  on  his 
forehead,  bringing  into  bold  relief  its  extreme  white- 
ness, worthy  of  the  brush  of  Rembrandt. 

The  question  propounded  by  the  physician,  who 
became  so  famous  by  reason  of  his  talent  as  well  as  of 
his  avarice,  caused  Godefroid  some  surprise,  and  he 
said  to  himself: 

"Does  he  take  me  for  a  robber?" 

The  answer  to  that  question  was  found  on  the 
doctor's  table  and  mantelpiece.  Godefroid  supposed 
that  he  was  the  first  to  arrive,  but  he  was  the  last. 
His  patients  had  deposited  on  the  mantelpiece  and 
the  edge  of  the  table  fees  of  no  mean  amount,  for 
Godefroid  spied  piles  of  pieces  of  twenty  francs  and 
forty  francs,  and  two  one-thousand  franc  notes. 
Was  that  the  proceeds  of  one  morning?  He  doubted 


THE  NOVICE  311 

it  very  much,  and  believed  that  it  must  be  the 
profits  of  some  shrewd  invention  of  his  mind.  Per- 
haps the  avaricious  but  infallible  doctor  was  anxious 
to  increase  his  receipts  by  allowing  his  patients,  who 
were  made  up  of  wealthy  people,  to  believe  that 
they  were  giving  him  rolls  of  gold  instead  of  "flim- 
sies." 

Moses  Halpersohn  was  entitled  to  be  paid  hand- 
somely, by  the  way,  for  he  cured,  and  cured  just 
those  desperate  diseases  which  medical  science 
abandoned.  Europeans  do  not  know  that  the 
Slavic  peoples  possess  many  secrets;  they  have  a 
collection  of  sovereign  remedies,  the  result  of  their 
intercourse  with  the  Chinese,  the  Persians,  the 
Cossacks,  the  Turks  and  the  Tartars.  Some 
peasant  women,  who  pass  for  sorceresses,  effect 
radical  cures  of  madness  in  Poland  with  the  juices 
of  herbs.  In  that  country  there  is  a  whole  system 
of  uncodified  observations  of  the  effects  of  certain 
plants  and  of  the  barks  of  some  trees  reduced  to 
powder,  which  are  transmitted  from  family  to  family, 
and  miraculous  cures  are  made  there. 

Halpersohn,  who  was  considered  a  quack  for  five 
or  six  years,  because  of  his  powders  and  medica- 
ments, possessed  the  inborn  science  of  great  physi- 
cians. Not  only  was  he  a  scholar  and  a  man  of  the 
closest  powers  of  observation,  but  he  had  traveled 
through  Germany,  Russia,  Persia  and  Turkey, 
where  he  had  gathered  up  many  traditions;  and,  as 
he  was  acquainted  with  chemistry,  he  became  the 
living  library  of  the  secrets  scattered  among  les 


312  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

bonnes  femmes,  as  they  say  in  France,  from  all  the 
countries  through  which  he  had  journeyed,  in  the 
wake  of  his  father,  by  trade  a  traveling  peddler. 

We  must  not  believe  that  the  scene  in  Richard  en 
Palestine,  where  Saladin  cures  the  King  of  England, 
is  a  fiction.  Halpersohn  possesses  a  silk  purse 
which  he  dips  in  water  to  color  it  slightly,  and 
certain  fevers  yield  to  that  water  when  taken  by 
the  invalid.  According  to  him  the  powers  of  plants 
are  infinite,  and  it  is  possible  to  cure  the  most 
horrible  diseases.  But  he,  like  his  confreres,  some- 
times stops  short  in  the  face  of  things  that  he  cannot 
understand.  Halpersohn  approves  of  the  invention 
of  homoeopathy,  more  because  of  its  therapeutics, 
than  for  its  medical  system;  he  corresponded  at  this 
time  with  Hedenius  of  Dresden,  Chelius  of  Heidel- 
berg and  the  famous  German  physicians,  keeping 
his  hand  closed,  although  it  was  full  of  discoveries. 
He  did  not  choose  to  instruct  pupils. 

The  frame  was  in  harmony  with  that  portrait 
from  a  canvas  of  Rembrandt.  The  study,  hung 
with  a  paper  in  imitation  of  green  velvet,  was 
shabbily  furnished  with  a  green  divan.  The  carpet, 
of  different  shades  of  green,  showed  the  nap.  A 
great  black  leather  easy-chair,  intended  for  patients, 
stood  in  front  of  the  window,  which  was  hung  with 
green  curtains.  A  mahogany  desk-chair,  Roman  in 
shape,  and  covered  with  green  morocco,  was  the 
doctor's  seat. 

Between  the  fireplace  and  the  long  table  at  which 
he  was  writing,  was  a  common  iron  chest,  standing 


THE   NOVICE  313 

against  the  centre  of  the  wall  opposite  the  fireplace, 
and  upon  it  stood  a  clock  of  Vienna  granite, 
supported  by  a  bronze  group,  representing  Love 
playing  with  Death,  a  present  from  a  great  German 
sculptor,  whom  Halpersohn  had  cured,  in  all  proba- 
bility. The  only  ornaments  on  the  mantelpiece 
were  a  cup  with  a  candlestick  on  each  side  of  it. 
On  each  side  of  the  divan  were  two  ebony  corner- 
pieces  to  hold  plates,  upon  which  Godefroid  saw 
divers  silver  bowls,  carafes  and  napkins. 

This  simplicity,  which  might  almost  be  called 
bareness,  made  a  deep  impression  on  Godefroid,  who 
had  the  power  of  embracing  everything  at  a  glance, 
and  he  recovered  his  sang-froid. 

"I  am  perfectly  well,  monsieur;  I  do  not  come 
on  my  own  account,  therefore,  but  in  behalf  of  a 
lady  whom  you  should  have  visited  long  ago.  I 
refer  to  a  lady  who  lives  on  Boulevard  du  Mont- 
Parnasse." 

"Oh!  yes,  that  lady  has  sent  her  son  to  me 
several  times.  Very  good,  monsieur,  let  her  come 
at  my  hour  for  consultation." 

"Let  her  come!"  repeated  Godefroid  indignantly; 
"why,  monsieur,  she  can't  be  moved  from  her  bed 
to  a  chair;  she  has  to  be  raised  with  straps!" 

"You're  not  a  physician,  monsieur?"  asked  the 
Jew  doctor  with  a  curious  leer,  which  made  his  face 
even  more  vicious  than  it  naturally  was. 

"If  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  should  send  word  to 
you  that  he  was  ill  and  wished  to  see  you,  would 
you  reply:  'Let  him  come  here?'  " 


314  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"I  would  go  to  him,"  replied  the  Jew  coolly, 
expectorating  into  a  Dutch  spittoon  made  of 
mahogany  and  filled  with  sand. 

"You  would  go,"  retorted  Godefroid  mildly, 
"because  the  Baron  de  Nucingen  has  two  millions  a 
year,  and — " 

"The  rest  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter — I 
would  go." 

"Very  well,  monsieur,  you  will  come  and  see  the 
invalid  on  Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnasse  for  the  same 
reason.  Although  I  haven't  the  Baron  de  Nucingen's 
fortune,  I  am  here  to  tell  you  that  you  may  put 
your  own  price  on  the  cure,  or  on  your  services,  if 
you  fail.  I  am  ready  to  pay  you  in  advance;  but 
monsieur,  would  not  you,  a  Polish  emigre,  a 
communist,  I  believe,  make  a  sacrifice  to  Poland? 
for  the  lady  in  question  is  the  grand-daughter  of 
General  Tarlovski,  Prince  Poniatowski's  friend." 

"Monsieur,  you  came  to  ask  me  to  cure  this  lady, 
and  not  to  give  me  advice.  In  Poland  I  am  a  Pole; 
in  Paris  I  am  a  Parisian.  Everyone  does  good  in 
his  own  way,  and  I  beg  you  to  believe  that  the 
avidity  with  which  I  am  credited  has  its  reasons. 
The  treasure  I  am  amassing  has  its  destination,  it  is 
sacred.  I  sell  health:  the  rich  can  pay  for  it  and  I 
make  them  pay.  The  poor  have  their  own  doctors. 
If  I  hadn't  an  object,  I  wouldn't  practice  medicine. 
1  live  soberly,  and  I  pass  my  time  traveling  about; 
I  am  lazy  and  I  was  once  a  gambler.  Have  done, 
young  man!  You  are  not  old  enough  to  pass 
judgment  on  old  men." 


THE  NOVICE  315 

Godefroid  made  no  reply. 

"Do  you  live  with  the  grand-daughter  of  that 
idiot  who  had  no  courage  to  do  anything  but  fight, 
and  who  handed  his  country  over  to  Catherine  II.?" 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

"Be  at  home  Monday  at  three  o'clock,"  he  said, 
laying  aside  his  pipe  and  taking  up  his  memorandum 
book  in  which  he  wrote  a  few  words.  "You  will 
hand  me  two  hundred  francs  when  I  arrive;  and,  if 
I  promise  to  cure  her,  you  will  give  me  a  thousand 
crowns. — He  told  me,"  he  continued,  "that  the 
woman  is  shrivelled  up  as  if  she  had  fallen  into  the 
fire." 

"Monsieur,  you  have  the  assurance  of  the  most 
celebrated  physicians  in  Paris,  that  it  is  a  nervous 
disorder,  the  symptoms  of  which  are  so  extraordinary 
that  they  denied  that  they  were  possible  until  they 
saw  them." 

"Ah!  I  remember  now  the  details  that  the  little 
fellow  gave  me. — Until  to-morrow,  monsieur." 

Godefroid  bowed  to  that  extraordinary  yet  inter- 
esting individual,  and  took  his  leave.  There  was 
nothing  about  him  to  indicate  or  suggest  the  physi- 
cian, not  even  the  bare  study,  in  which  the  only 
article  of  furniture  that  caught  the  eye  was  that 
formidable  chest  of  Huret  or  Fichet. 

Godefroid  arrived  at  Passage  Vivienne  in  time  to 
purchase,  before  the  shop  closed,  a  magnificent 
accordion,  which  he  ordered  sent  to  Monsieur 
Bernard,  giving  his  address. 

Then  he  went  to  Rue  Chanoinesse  by  way  of 


3l6  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Quai  des  Augustins,  where  he  hoped  to  find  the 
shop  of  one  of  the  commission  dealers  in  books  open; 
he  was  fortunate  enough  to  find  one,  where  he  had 
a  long  conversation  with  a  young  clerk  on  the 
subject  of  law-books. 

He  found  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  and  her  friends 
just  returned  from  high  mass;  Godefroid  answered 
her  first  glance  with  a  significant  shake  of  the  head. 

"Why,  is  not  our  dear  Pere  Alain  with  you?"  he 
asked. 

"He  will  not  come  this  Sunday,"  replied  Madame 
de  la  Chanterie;  "you  won't  see  him  until  a  week 
from  to-day — that  is,  unless  you  go  to  the  rendezvous 
he  appointed." 

"Madame,"  said  Godefroid,  "you  know  he 
doesn't  intimidate  me  like  these  gentlemen,  and  I 
hoped  to  make  my  confession  to  him." 

"And  what  about  me?" 

"Oh!  I  will  tell  you  everything,  and  I  have  many 
things  to  tell.  For  a  beginning,  I  fell  in  with  the 
most  extraordinary  of  all  forms  of  misery,  a  bar- 
barous combination  of  destitution  and  luxury;  and 
with  it  all,  human  figures  of  a  sublimity  surpassing 
all  the  creations  of  our  most  popular  novelists." 

"Nature,  especially  moral  nature,  is  always  above 
art,  as  far  as  God  is  above  His  creatures.  But  tell 
me  about  your  experiences  in  the  unknown  regions 
to  which  you  made  your  first  journey." 

Monsieur  Nicolas  and  Monsieur  Joseph — Abbe  de 
Veze  had  remained  behind  for  a  few  moments  at 
Notre-Dame — left  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  alone 


THE  NOVICE  317 

with  Godefroid,  who,  being  still  under  the  spell  of 
the  emotion  of  the  preceding  evening,  narrated 
everything,  to  the  smallest  details,  with  the  force, 
the  energy  and  the  fervor  caused  by  the  first 
impression  of  such  a  spectacle  and  its  accompani- 
ments, both  men  and  things.  He  achieved  a  great 
triumph,  for  the  tranquil,  gentle  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  accustomed  as  she  was  to  descend  to  the 
deepest  depths  of  human  suffering,  shed  tears. 
"You  did  well,"  she  said,  "to  send  the  accordion." 
"I  would  like  to  do  much  more,"  replied  Gode- 
froid, "for  that  family  is  the  first  to  teach  me  the 
pleasures  of  charity;  I  desire  to  assure  to  that 
sublime  old  man  the  greater  part  of  the  profits  of  his 
great  work.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  have 
enough  confidence  in  my  capacity  to  put  me  in  the 
way  to  manage  an  affair  of  such  magnitude. 
According  to  the  information  I  have  gathered,  it 
would  require  about  nine  thousand  francs  to  make 
an  edition  of  fifteen  hundred  copies  of  the  book,  and 
their  value,  at  the  lowest  estimate,  would  then  be 
twenty-four  thousand  francs.  As  we  must  first  pay 
the  three  thousand  and  some  hundred  francs  for 
which  the  manuscript  is  pledged,  the  whole  amount 
to  be  risked  will  be  something  like  twelve  thousand 
francs.  Oh!  Madame,  if  you  knew  how  bitterly  I 
regretted,  as  I  walked  hither  from  Quai  des  Augus- 
tins,  that  I  have  squandered  my  little  fortune!  The 
spirit  of  Charity  has  appeared  to  me  and  inflamed 
the  ardor  of  the  novice;  I  propose  to  renounce  the 
world,  I  propose  to  lead  the  life  these  gentlemen 


318  THE   OTHER  SIDE 

lead,  and  I  will  be  worthy  of  you.  Many  times  in 
these  last  two  days  I  have  blessed  the  chance  that 
brought  me  here.  I  will  obey  you  in  everything, 
until  you  decide  that  I  am  worthy  to  be  one  of  you." 

"Listen  to  me,"  replied  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
gravely,  after  reflecting  for  a  moment,  "for  I  have 
some  important  things  to  disclose  to  you.  You  have 
been  fascinated,  my  child,  by  the  poetry  of  misfor- 
tune. Yes,  misfortune  often  has  a  poetry  of  its 
own;  for,  in  my  view,  poetry  is  a  sort  of  excess  of 
sentiment,  and  suffering  is  a  sentiment.  So  many 
people  live  by  suffering!" 

"Yes,  Madame,  I  was  seized  by  the  demon  of 
curiosity.  What  can  you  expect;  I  am  not  accus- 
tomed as  yet  to  penetrate  to  the  heart  of  unfortunate 
existences,  and  I  do  not  go  forward  with  the 
calmness  of  your  three  devout  soldiers  of  the  Lord. 
But,  understand  me,  it  was  after  I  had  conquered 
my  curiosity  that  I  determined  to  devote  myself  to 
your  work!" 

"Listen,  my  dear  angel,"  said  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  uttering  the  three  words  with  a  gentle 
fervor  by  which  Godefroid  was  strangely  mnved, 
"we  have  forbidden  ourselves  absolutely — we  do 
not  misuse  words  here,  and  what  is  forbidden  never 
comes  to  our  mind — we  have  made  it  a  law  never 
to  enter  into  speculations.  To  print  a  book  for 
purposes  of  sale  and  to  expect  profits  from  it,  is  a 
business  transaction,  and  enterprises  of  that  sort 
would  involve  us  in  the  embarrassments  of  business. 
This  certainly  seems  to  me  a  practicable  matter, 


THE   NOVICE  319 

yes,  and  a  necessary  one.  Do  you  suppose  it  is 
the  first  case  of  the  kind  we  have  had?  Twenty 
times,  yes,  a  hundred  times,  we  have  discovered 
ways  of  saving  households,  whole  families  thus! 
Now,  what  would  become  of  us  if  we  had  gone  into 
affairs  of  that  sort?  We  should  have  been  traders. 
To  form  a  company  to  deal  in  misfortune  is  not  to 
work  one's  self,  but  to  make  misfortune  do  the  work. 
In  a  few  days  you  will  fall  in  with  misery  more 
hopeless  than  this;  will  you  do  the  same  thing?  If 
so,  you  will  soon  be  overwhelmed!  Remember,  my 
child,  that  Messieurs  Mongenod  have  been  unable 
for  a  year  past  to  look  after  our  accounts.  More 
than  half  of  your  time  will  be  taken  up  in  keeping 
our  books.  We  have  nearly  two  thousand  debtors 
in  Paris  to-day;  and  we  must  at  least  know  the 
amount  of  their  debts,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
can  repay  us.  We  never  ask,  we  wait.  We 
calculate  that  half  of  the  money  we  give  away  is 
lost.  The  other  half  comes  back  to  us,  sometimes 
doubled. — For  instance,  suppose  that  this  magistrate 
should  die — there  are  twelve  thousand  francs  in  a 
very  precarious  condition.  But  if  his  daughter  is 
cured,  if  his  grandson  is  successful  and  becomes  a 
magistrate  some  day — why,  if  he  is  an  honorable 
man,  he  will  remember  the  debt,  and  he  will  repay 
the  money  of  the  poor  with  interest.  Do  you  know 
that  more  families  than  one,  whom  we  have  rescued 
from  want  and  started  on  the  road  to  fortune,  have 
laid  aside  the  share  of  the  poor  and  repaid  the  sums 
lent,  doubled  and  sometimes  trebled?  Those  are 


320  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

our  only  speculations!  In  the  first  place,  consider, 
as  to  the  subject  with  which  your  mind  is  filled — 
and  it  is  quite  right  that  it  should  be  so — that  the 
sale  of  this  magistrate's  work  depends  upon  the 
excellence  of  the  work  itself;  have  you  read  it? 
And  then,  even  if  the  book  is  a  good  one,  how 
many  good  books  have  waited  one,  two,  three  years 
for  the  success  they  deserved!  How  many  wreaths 
have  been  laid  upon  tombs!  And  I  know  that 
publishers  have  methods  of  dealing  and  realizing 
upon  their  wares  that  make  their  trade  the  most 
haphazard  and  difficult  to  be  understood  of  all 
Parisian  trades.  Monsieur  Nicolas  will  tell  you  of 
these  difficulties,  which  are  inherent  in  the  nature 
of  books.  Thus,  you  see,  we  are  sensible,  we  are 
experienced  in  all  forms  of  misery  as  in  all  trades, 
for  we  have  been  studying  Paris  for  a  long  while. — 
The  Mongenods  help  us;  they  are  our  torches,  and 
through  them  we  know  that  the  Bank  of  France 
always  looks  with  suspicion  on  the  publishing  trade, 
although  it  is  one  of  the  most  honorable;  but  it  is 
not  well  carried  on.  As  for  the  four  thousand  francs 
necessary  to  rescue  this  noble  family  from  the 
horrors  of  poverty, — for  the  poor  boy  and  his 
grandfather  must  be  properly  fed  and  be  enabled  to 
dress  decently — I  will  give  them  to  you.  There 
are  sufferings,  miseries,  wounds,  which  we  relieve 
instantly,  without  hesitation,  without  trying  to  find 
out  whom  we  are  assisting:  religion,  honor,  character, 
all  are  matters  of  indifference  to  us;  but,  when  it 
comes  to  lending  the  money  of  the  poor  to  assist 


THE   NOVICE  321 

misfortune  in  the  active  form  of  trade  or  commerce 
— why,  then,  we  demand  security  with  the  implaca- 
bility of  the  usurer.  So  hereafter  limit  your 
enthusiasm  to  finding  the  most  honorable  publisher 
that  you  can  for  the  old  man.  Monsieur  Nicolas 
will  help  you  in  that.  He  knows  advocates,  pro- 
fessors and  authors  of  books  on  jurisprudence;  and  by 
next  Sunday  he  will  certainly  have  some  good  advice 
to  give  you.  Have  no  fear;  if  it  is  possible,  this  diffi- 
culty will  be  solved.  But  perhaps  it  would  be  well 
for  Monsieur  Nicolas  to  read  this  magistrate's  work. 
Obtain  the  manuscript  for  him,  if  it  can  be  done." 

Godefroid  was  utterly  amazed  by  the  sound 
common  sense  of  this  woman  whom  he  had  supposed 
to  be  animated  solely  by  the  spirit  of  charity.  He 
bent  his  knee  and  kissed  one  of  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie's  lovely  hands,  saying: 

"So  you  are  the  spirit  of  reason  too?" 

"We  are  obliged  to  be  everything  in  our  business," 
she  replied  with  the  gentle  gayety  characteristic  of 
the  true  saint. 

There  was  a  moment's  silence,  broken  by  the 
exclamation  from  Godefroid: 

"Two  thousand  debtors  you  said,  Madame?  two 
thousand  accounts!  why,  that  is  a  tremendous 
number!" 

"Oh!  yes,  two  thousand  accounts,"  she  replied, 
"which  may  be  closed,  as  I  have  just  said,  by  pay- 
ments based  upon  the  sense  of  honor  of  our  debtors; 
for  we  have  fully  three  thousand  other  families  who 
never  pay  us  anything  but  thanks.  So,  as  I  say,  we 

21 


322  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

feel  the  need  of  having  properly  kept  books.  And,  if 
you  possess  a  discretion  that  will  endure  every  test, 
you  shall  be  our  financial  oracle.  We  are  obliged 
to  keep  a  journal,  a  ledger,  a  book  of  current 
accounts  and  a  cash-book.  We  have  many  notes, 
but  we  waste  too  much  time  trying — Here  are  the 
gentlemen,"  she  added. 

Godefroid  was  grave  and  pensive  and  took  little 
part  in  the  conversation  at  first;  he  was  bewildered 
by  the  revelation  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  had  just 
made  to  him  in  a  tone  that  proved  that  she  wished 
to  reward  him  for  his  ardor. 

"Two  thousand  families  assisted!"  he  said  to 
himself;  "why,  if  they  all  cost  as  much  as  Monsieur 
Bernard  is  going  to  cost  us,  we  must  have  millions 
of  money  planted  in  Paris!" 

This  thought  was  one  of  the  last  manifestations 
of  the  worldly  spirit,  which  was  insensibly  dying 
away  in  Godefroid.  Upon  reflection,  he  realized 
that  the  combined  fortunes  of  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie, Messieurs  Nicolas,  Alain,  Joseph,  together 
with  that  of  the  late  magistrate,  Popinot,  the  gifts 
collected  by  Abbe  de  V£ze  and  the  sums  advanced 
by  the  house  of  Mongenod,  must  amount  to  a 
considerable  sum;  and  that  that  capital,  increased 
by  the  contributions  of  those  debtors  who  showed 
themselves  grateful,  must  have  increased  in  twelve 
or  fifteen  years  like  a  snowball,  as  those  charitable 
persons  took  nothing  from  it.  He  gradually  obtained 
a  clearer  insight  into  that  vast  work,  and  his  desire 
to  co-operate  therein  increased  in  proportion. 


THE   NOVICE  323 

About  nine  o'clock  he  started  to  return  on  foot  to 
Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnasse;  but  Madame  de  la 
Chanterie,  fearing  the  solitude  of  the  quarter,  forced 
him  to  take  a  cab.  As  he  alighted  from  the  vehicle, 
Godefroid  heard  the  notes  of  the  accordion,  although 
the  shutters  were  so  tightly  closed  that  not  a  ray  of 
light  could  be  seen;  and,  when  he  reached  the 
landing,  Auguste,  who  had  evidently  been  watching 
for  his  return,  opened  the  door  of  the  apartment, 
and  said  to  him: 

"Mamma  would  like  to  see  you,  and  grandfather 
invites  you  to  have  a  cup  of  tea." 

Upon  entering  the  invalid's  room,  Godefroid  found 
her  transfigured  by  the  pleasure  of  playing  upon  the 
instrument;  her  face  was  beaming  and  her  eyes 
shone  like  diamonds. 

"I  would  have  liked  to  wait  for  you,  so  that  you 
could  hear  the  first  chords;  but  I  pounced  on  the 
little  organ  like  a  starving  man  on  a  bountiful 
dinner.  You  have  a  heart  to  understand  me,  so  I 
am  forgiven." 

Vanda  made  a  sign  to  her  son,  who  took  his  place 
so  as  to  press  the  pedal  by  which  the  breath  of  the 
instrument  was  expelled;  and  then,  with  her  eyes 
gazing  upward,  like  St.  Cecilia,  the  invalid,  whose 
fingers  had  momentarily  recovered  strength  and 
agility,  played  variations  upon  the  Prayer  from 
Moses,  which  she  had  composed  in  a  few  hours  from 
the  score,  purchased  for  her  by  her  son.  Gode- 
froid discovered  in  her  a  talent  akin  to  Chopin's. 
Her  soul  manifested  itself  by  divine  sounds  in  which 


324  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

a  strain  of  gentle  melancholy  was  predominant. 
Monsieur  Bernard  had  greeted  Godefroid  with  a 
glance  instinct  with  a  feeling  long  unexpressed.  If 
the  source  of  tears  had  not  been  drained  dry  forever 
in  that  old  man,  wasted  by  such  unremitting, 
poignant  sorrow,  it  was  easy  to  see  that  his  eyes 
would  have  been  wet. 

He  toyed  with  his  snuff-box,  gazing  at  his  daughter 
with  indescribable  joy. 

"To-morrow,  madame,"  said  Godefroid,  when 
the  music  had  ceased,  "to-morrow  your  fate  will  be 
decided,  for  I  have  good  news  for  you.  The  famous 
Halpersohn  will  come  to-morrow  at  three  o'clock. — 
And  he  promised,"  he  added  in  Monsieur  Bernard's 
ear,  "to  tell  me  the  truth." 

The  old  man  rose,  took  Godefroid's  hand  and  led 
him  to  a  corner  of  the  room,  beside  the  fireplace. 
He  was  trembling  with  emotion. 

"Oh!  what  a  night  I  shall  pass!  It  will  be  a 
final  decree!"  he  said  in  the  young  man's  ear. 
"My  daughter  will  be  cured  or  sentenced  to  death!" 

"Have  courage,"  Godefroid  replied,  "and  come 
to  my  room  after  we  have  had  our  tea." 

"Enough,  enough,  my  child,"  said  the  old  man, 
"you  will  bring  on  one  of  your  paroxysms.  Prostra- 
tion will  follow  this  accession  of  strength." 

He  bade  Auguste  take  the  instrument  away,  and 
handed  a  cup  of  tea  to  his  daughter  with  the 
wheedling  manner  of  a  nurse  seeking  to  anticipate 
a  little  child's  impatience. 

"What  sort  of  man  is  this  doctor?"   she  asked, 


THE  NOVICE  325 

her  mind  already  diverted  by  the  prospect  of  seeing 
a  stranger. 

Like  all  prisoners,  Vanda  was  devoured  by 
curiosity.  When  the  other  physical  phenomena  of 
her  disease  ceased  to  manifest  themselves,  they 
seemed  to  be  transferred  to  the  moral  side  of  her 
nature,  and  thereupon  she  conceived  strange 
whims,  extravagant  fancies.  She  wanted  to  see 
Rossini;  she  wept  because  her  father,  whom  she 
believed  to  be  omnipotent,  refused  to  bring  him  to 
her. 

Godefroid  thereupon  gave  a  minute  description  of 
the  Jew  doctor  and  his  office,  for  she  knew  nothing 
of  her  father's  previous  attempts  to  consult  him. 
Monsieur  Bernard  had  bade  his  grandson  keep  silent 
as  to  his  visits  to  Halpersohn,  he  dreaded  so  to 
arouse  in  his  daughter's  mind  hopes  which  could  not 
be  realized.  Vanda  seemed  to  hang  upon  the  words 
that  issued  from  Godefroid's  mouth,  she  was  fasci- 
nated, and  her  longing  to  see  the  strange  Pole 
became  so  ardent  that  she  became  lightheaded  in  a 
measure. 

"Poland  has  often  produced  such  anomalous, 
mysterious  creatures,"  said  the  ex-magistrate. 
"To-day,  for  example,  besides  this  doctor,  we  have 
Hoe'ne  Vronski,  the  mystical  mathematician,  the 
poet  Mickievicz,  the  seer  Tovianski,  and  Chopin, 
whose  talent  is  superhuman.  Great  national  com- 
motions always  produce  a  race  of  deformed 
giants." 

"Oh!  dear  papa,  what  a  man  you  are!     If  you 


326  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

should  write  down  all  you  say  just  to  entertain  me, 
you  would  make  your  fortune; — for  just  imagine, 
monsieur,  my  dear  old  father  makes  up  the  loveliest 
stories  for  me  when  I  have  no  novels  to  read,  and 
puts  me  to  sleep  in  that  way.  His  voice  soothes  me, 
and  he  often  allays  my  pain  with  his  wit.  Who  will 
ever  reward  him! — Auguste,  my  son,  you  ought  to 
kiss  your  grandfather's  footprints  for  me." 

The  young  man  turned  his  lovely  moist  eyes  on 
his  mother,  and  that  glance,  overflowing  with  long 
pent-up  compassion,  was  a  poem  in  itself.  Gode- 
froid  rose,  took  Auguste's  hand  and  pressed  it. 

"God,  madame,  has  placed  two  angels  by  your 
side!"  he  cried. 

"Yes,  I  know  it.  For  that  reason  I  often  reproach 
myself  for  driving  them  mad. — Come,  dear  Augus- 
tin,  kiss  your  mother. — He's  a  boy,  monsieur,  of 
whom  any  mother  would  be  proud.  He  is  pure  gold, 
an  openhearted,  stainless  creature;  but  a  little  too 
passionate,  like  his  mamma.  Perhaps  God  nailed 
me  to  my  bed  to  keep  me  from  the  follies  that 
women  commit — who  have  too  much  heart,"  she 
added  with  a  smile. 

Godefroid  replied  with  a  smile  and  a  bow. 

"Good-night,  monsieur;  and  I  pray  you  thank 
your  friend,  for  he  has  made  a  poor  helpless  creature 
happy." 

"Monsieur,"  said  Godefroid,  when  he  was  in  his 
own  apartments  with  Monsieur  Bernard,  who  accom- 
panied him,  "I  think  I  can  assure  you  that  you  will 
not  be  robbed  by  that  trio  of  fine  fellows.  I  shall 


THE  NOVICE  327 

have  the  necessary  funds,  but  you  must  turn  over 
to  me  your  agreement  relative  to  the  redemption  of 
the  manuscript. — And  in  order  that  I  may  do  more 
for  you,  you  will  have  to  let  me  have  the  work  to 
be  read — not  by  myself,  for  I  have  not  enough 
knowledge  of  the  subject  to  pass  judgment  upon 
it — but  by  an  ex-magistrate  of  absolute  integrity, 
who  will  undertake,  after  determining  the  merit  of 
the  work,  to  find  an  honorable  house  with  whom 
you  will  be  able  to  make  an  equitable  bargain. — But 
I  do  not  insist  upon  that.  Meanwhile,  here  are  five 
hundred  francs,"  he  added,  handing  the  bewildered 
old  man  a  banknote,  "to  supply  your  most  pressing 
needs.  I  do  not  ask  you  for  any  receipt,  you  will  be 
bound  only  by  your  conscience,  and  your  conscience 
should  not  speak  unless  you  should  hereafter  be  in 
more  comfortable  circumstances.  I  will  undertake 
to  pay  Halpersohn — " 

"Who,  then,  are  you?"  said  the  old  man,  falling 
upon  a  chair. 

"I  am  nobody,"  replied  Godefroid;  "but  I  am  in 
the  service  of  influential  people,  to  whom  your 
distress  is  now  known  and  who  are  interested  in 
you.  Ask  me  nothing  more." 

"But  what  principle  guides  these  people?"  said 
the  old  man. 

"Religion,  monsieur,"  Godefroid  replied. 

"Religion!  can  it  be  possible?" 

"Yes,  the  Catholic,  Apostolic,  Roman  religion." 

"Do  you  belong  to  the  order  of  Jesuits?" 

"No,  monsieur.    Have  no  fear:  these  people  have 


328  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

no  designs  upon  you,  beyond  that  of  assisting  you 
and  of  making  your  family  happy  once  more." 

"Can  it  be  possible  for  philanthropy  to  become 
something  else  than  mere  vanity?" 

"Oh!  monsieur,"  exclaimed  Godefroid  eagerly, 
"do  not  dishonor  blessed  Catholic  charity,  the 
virtue  defined  by  St.  Paul!" 

Monsieur  Bernard,  upon  that  reply,  began  to 
stride  up  and  down  the  room. 

"I  accept,"  he  said  abruptly,  "and  I  have  but  one 
way  of  thanking  you,  that  is  to  entrust  my  work  to 
you.  The  notes  and  citations  are  useless  to  one 
who  has  been  a  magistrate;  and  I  still  have  two 
months'  work  to  do,  copying  the  citations,  as  I  told 
you.  Until  to-morrow,"  he  added,  exchanging  a 
hearty  grasp  of  the  hand  with  Godefroid. 

"Can  I  have  made  a  convert?"  said  Godefroid 
to  himself,  struck  by  the  unfamiliar  expression  the 
old  man's  features  had  assumed  at  his  last  reply. 


The  next  afternoon,  at  three  o'clock,  a  hired 
carriage  stopped  in  front  of  the  house,  and  Godefroid 
saw  Halpersohn  alight  from  it,  enveloped  in  a  huge 
bearskin  coat.  During  the  night  the  cold  had 
grown  more  intense,  the  thermometer  marked  ten 
degrees  below  the  freezing  point. 

The  Jew  doctor  scrutinized  with  interest,  although 
stealthily,  the  room  in  which  his  visitor  of  the 
preceding  day  received  him,  and  Godefroid  detected 
a  gleam  of  suspicion,  like  the  point  of  a  dagger,  in 
his  eyes.  That  swift  flash  of  distrust  made  Gode- 
froid shudder  internally,  for  he  thought  that  the 
man  was  likely  to  be  without  pity  in  his  dealings; 
and  it  is  so  natural  to  think  of  genius  as  combined 
with  kindness  of  heart,  that  he  had  a  renewed 
feeling  of  disgust. 

"Monsieur,"  he  said,  "I  see  that  the  simple 
appearance  of  my  room  disturbs  you;  therefore  you 
will  not  be  surprised  by  what  I  do.  Here  are  your 
two  hundred  francs,  and  here  are  three  notes  of  a 
thousand  francs  each,"  he  added,  taking  from  his 
portfolio  the  bank  notes  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
had  handed  him  to  take  Monsieur  Bernard's  manu- 
script out  of  pawn;  "but  in  case  you  have  doubts 
concerning  my  responsibility,  I  offer  you,  as  my 
references,  Messieurs  Mongenod,  bankers,  Rue  de 
la  Victoire." 

(329) 


330  THE   OTHER  SIDE 

"I  know  them,"  replied  Halpersohn,  bestowing 
the  ten  gold-pieces  in  his  pocket. 

"He  will  call  on  them,"  thought  Godefroid. 

"Where  does  the  invalid  live?"  inquired  the 
doctor,  rising  like  a  man  who  knows  the  value  of 
time. 

"Come  this  way,  monsieur,"  said  Godefroid, 
going  first,  as  guide. 

The  Jew  scrutinized  his  surroundings  with  a  sharp 
and  suspicious  eye,  for  he  had  the  stealthy  glance 
of  a  spy;  so  that  he  obtained  a  clear  view  of  the 
horrors  of  indigence  through  the  door  of  the  room  in 
which  the  magistrate  and  his  grandson  slept; 
unfortunately  Monsieur  Bernard  had  gone  to  don 
the  costume  in  which  he  appeared  in  his  daughter's 
room,  and  in  his  haste  to  admit  his  visitors,  he  did 
not  securely  close  the  door  of  his  dog-kennel.  He 
bowed  with  noble  dignity  to  Halpersohn,  and 
cautiously  opened  the  door  of  his  daughter's  room. 

"Vanda,  my  child,  here  is  the  doctor,"  he  said. 

He  stood  aside  to  admit  Halpersohn,  who  still 
wore  his  fur  coat.  The  Jew  was  surprised  by  the 
contrast  presented  by  that  room,  which  was  an 
anomaly  in  that  quarter  and  especially  in  that 
house;  but  his  amazement  lasted  only  a  short  time, 
for  he  had  often  seen,  among  the  Jews  of  Germany 
and  Russia,  such  contrasts  between  what  seemed  to 
be  profound  destitution  and  concealed  wealth.  As 
he  walked  from  the  door  to  the  invalid's  bed,  he 
did  not  take  his  eyes  from  her,  and  when  he  reached 
the  bedside  he  said  to  her  in  Polish: 


THE  NOVICE  331 

"You  are  a  Pole?" 

"I  am  not,  but  my  mother  was." 

"Whom  did  your  grandfather,  General  Tarlovski, 
marry?" 

"A  Pole." 

"From  what  province?" 

"She  was  a  Sobolevska  from  Pinsk." 

"Good. — Monsieur  is  your  father?" 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

He  turned  to  Monsieur  Bernard. 

"Your  wife,  monsieur — ?" 

"She  is  dead,"  Monsieur  Bernard  replied. 

"Was  she  very  fair?"  said  Halpersohn,  with  a 
slight  gesture  of  impatience  at  having  been  inter- 
rupted. 

"Here  is  her  portrait,"  replied  Monsieur  Bernard, 
taking  down  a  superb  frame  in  which  were  several 
lovely  miniatures. 

Halpersohn  felt  the  patient's  head  and  smoothed 
her  hair,  as  he  glanced  at  the  portrait  of  Vanda 
Tarlovska,  born  Countess  Sobolevska. 

"Describe  to  me  the  troubles  growing  out  of  the 
disease." 

He  seated  himself  on  the  couch  and  gazed  stead- 
fastly at  Vanda  during  the  twenty  minutes  that  the 
father  and  daughter  employed,  alternately,  in 
complying  with  his  demand. 

"How  old  is  madame?" 

"Thirty-eight." 

"Ah!  good,"  he  cried,  springing  to  his  feet,  "I 
will  undertake  to  cure  her.  I  do  not  promise  to 


332  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

restore  the  use  of  her  legs,  but  cured  she  shall  be. 
But  she  must  be  taken  to  a  private  hospital  in  my 
neighborhood." 

"But,  monsieur,  my  daughter  cannot  be  moved — " 

"I  will  answer  for  her  cure,"  said  Halpersohn 
sententiously;  "but  only  on  those  conditions.  Do 
you  know  that  she  is  going  to  exchange  her  present 
disease  for  another  more  horrible  one,  which  will 
last  a  year  perhaps,  six  months  at  least?  You  are 
madame's  father,  so  you  can  see  what  is  coming." 

"Are  you  sure?"  demanded  Monsieur  Bernard. 

"Sure!"  the  Jew  repeated.  "Madame  has  in  her 
body  a  principle  of  disease,  a  national  humor,  and 
we  must  rid  her  of  it.  When  you  come,  you  must 
bring  her  to  me  at  Chaillot,  Rue  Basse-Saint-Pierre, 
Doctor  Halpersohn's  private  hospital." 

"But  how  shall  we  do  it?" 

"On  a  litter,  as  all  invalids  are  carried  to  the 
hospitals." 

"But  the  journey  will  kill  her." 

"No." 

As  he  uttered  that  abrupt  no,  Halpersohn  walked 
to  the  door;  Godefroid  joined  him  on  the  stairs. 

The  Jew,  who  was  stifling  with  the  heat,  whis- 
pered in  his  ear: 

"In  addition  to  the  thousand  crowns,  it  will  be 
fifteen  francs  a  day;  you  must  pay  for  three  months 
in  advance." 

"Very  good,  monsieur. — So  you  will  undertake 
to  cure  her?"  Godefroid  asked,  standing  on  the  step 
of  the  cab  which  the  doctor  had  hurriedly  entered. 


THE  NOVICE  333 

"I  will  answer  for  her,"  replied  the  Pole.  "Are 
you  in  love  with  that  woman?" 

"No,"  said  Godefroid. 

"You  win  not  repeat  what  I  am  going  to  confide 
to  you,  for  I  say  it  only  to  prove  that  I  am  sure  of 
curing  her,  and  if  you  were  to  divulge  a  syllable 
you  would  kill  the  woman." 

Godefroid  replied  with  a  single  gesture. 

"She  has  been  for  seventeen  years  a  victim  of 
the  Polish  plica,  which  produces  all  these  symptoms; 
I  have  seen  more  horrible  cases  of  it.  Now,  I  alone 
know  how  to  expel  the  plica  in  such  a  way  as  to  be 
able  to  cure  it,  for  it  is  not  always  cured.  You  see, 
monsieur,  how  unselfish  I  am.  If  she  were  a  great 
lady,  a  Baronne  de  Nucingen  or  the  wife  or  daugh- 
ter of  any  other  of  the  modern  Croesuses,  I  should 
receive  one  hundred,  two  hundred  thousand  francs 
for  the  cure,  whatever  I  might  ask,  in  fact! — But 
that's  a  small  matter." 

"And  the  journey?" 

"Bah!  she  will  seem  to  be  dying,  but  she  won't 
die! — She  has  life  enough  for  a  hundred  years,  when 
she  is  once  cured. — Go  on,  Jacques! — Rue  Mon- 
sieur,— quick! — quick!"  he  said  to  the  driver. 

He  drove  away,  leaving  Godefroid  on  the  boule- 
vard, where  he  stood  watching  the  cab  in  a 
bewildered  way. 

"Who  in  the  world  is  that  devil  of  a  man  in  the 
bearskin?"  queried  La  Vauthier,  whom  nothing 
escaped.  "Is  what  the  cab-driver  told  me  true, 
that  he's  the  most  famous  doctor  in  Paris?" 


334  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

"What  difference  does  it  make  to  you,  Mere 
Vauthier?" 

"Oh!  none  at  all!"  she  replied,  with  a  leer. 

"You  did  very  wrong  not  to  come  over  to  my 
side,"  said  Godefroid,  walking  slowly  back  toward 
the  house;  "you  would  have  made  more  than  with 
Messieurs  Barbet  and  Metivier,  from  whom  you  will 
get  nothing." 

"Who  says  I  am  on  their  side?"  she  said,  with  a 
shrug  of  her  shoulders;  "Monsieur  Barbet  is  my 
landlord,  that's  all!" 

It  required  two  days  to  persuade  Monsieur  Bernard 
to  part  from  his  daughter  and  send  her  to  Chaillot. 
Godefroid  and  the  ex-magistrate  made  the  journey 
walking  on  each  side  of  the  litter  with  its  canopy 
of  blue  and  white  striped  ticking,  on  which  lay  the 
dear  invalid,  almost  bound  to  the  mattress,  her 
father  had  such  dread  of  the  convulsive  movements 
caused  by  her  nervous  attacks.  The  little  procession 
started  at  three  o'clock  and  reached  the  hospital 
about  five,  just  at  nightfall.  Godefroid  paid  and 
took  a  receipt  for  the  four  hundred  and  fifty  francs 
demanded  for  the  first  quarter;  and  when  he  went 
downstairs  to  give  the  two  bearers  their  pourboires, 
he  was  joined  by  Monsieur  Bernard,  who  took  from 
under  the  mattress  a  very  voluminous  sealed  package 
and  handed  it  to  Godefroid. 

"One  of  these  men  will  go  and  call  a  cab  for 
you,"  said  the  old  man,  "for  you  could  not  carry 
these  four  volumes  far.  This  is  my  work;  hand  it 
to  my  censor,  I  place  it  in  his  hands  for  the  whole 


THE   NOVICE  335 

of  this  week.  I  shall  remain  in  this  quarter  at  least 
a  week,  for  I  do  not  propose  to  abandon  ;my  child 
so.  I  know  my  grandson,  he  can  take  charge  of 
my  apartments,  especially  with  your  assistance;  I 
commend  him  to  your  care.  If  I  were  what  I  once 
was,  I  would  ask  the  name  of  my  critic,  of  this 
ex-magistrate,  for  there  are  few  such  whom  I  do 
not  know — " 

"Oh!  it's  no  mystery,"  Godefroid  interrupted 
him.  "Since  you  have  such  entire  confidence  in 
me,  I  am  at  liberty  to  tell  you  that  your  censor  is 
the  former  President  Lecamus  de  Tresnes." 

"Of  the  Royal  Court  of  Paris!  Take  it— go!  he 
is  one  of  the  finest  characters  of  this  age!  He  and 
the  late  Popinot,  the  judge  of  the  Tribunal  of  First 
Instance,  were  magistrates  worthy  of  the  glorious 
days  of  the  old  parliaments.  All  my  fears,  if  I  had 
retained  any,  would  be  scattered  to  the  winds  now! 
— Where  does  he  live?  I  should  be  glad  to  go  and 
thank  him  for  the  trouble  he  is  taking." 

"You  will  find  him  on  Rue  Chanoinesse,  under 
the  name  of  Monsieur  Nicolas.  I  am  going  there 
now. — And  what  about  your  agreement  with  your 
sharpers?" 

"Auguste  will  hand  it  to  you,"  said  the  old  man, 
as  he  returned  to  the  courtyard  of  the  hospital. 

A  cabriolet  summoned  by  one  of  the  bearers  from 
Quai  de  Billy  arrived  at  that  moment;  Godefroid  en- 
tered it  and  stimulated  the  ardor  of  the  driver  by  the 
promise  of  a  handsome  pourboire  if  he  arrived  at  Rue 
Chanoinesse  in  time,  for  he  was  anxious  to  dine  there. 


336  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Half  an  hour  after  Vanda's  departure,  three  men 
dressed  in  black,  whom  La  Vauthier  admitted 
through  the  door  on  Rue  Notre-Dame  des  Champs, 
where  they  had  evidently  awaited  the  propitious 
moment,  ascended  the  stairs,  accompanied  by  that 
female  Judas,  and  knocked  softly  at  the  door  of 
Monsieur  Bernard's  apartment.  As  it  was  a  Thurs- 
day, the  young  collegian  had  been  able  to  stay  at 
home.  He  opened  the  door  and  the  three  men 
glided  like  shadows  into  the  first  room. 

"What  do  you  want,  messieurs?"  demanded  the 
young  man. 

"This  is  Monsieur  Bernard's? — that  is  to  say, 
Monsieur  le  Baron's?" 

"But  what  do  you  want?" 

"Oh!  you  know  very  well,  young  man,  for  we 
were  told  that  your  grandfather  just  went  away 
with  a  covered  litter.  We're  not  surprised  at  that! 
but  he  had  a  right  to  do  it.  I'm  a  bailiff,  and  I  have 
come  to  seize  everything  there  is  here.  Monday, 
you  had  a  summons  to  pay  three  thousand  francs 
principal,  and  the  costs,  to  Monsieur  Metivier,  under 
pain  of  arrest,  for  which  we  had  an  order.  And  as 
an  old  onion  hawker  knows  all  about  shallots,  the 
debtor  took  to  his  heels  to  avoid  going  to  Clichy. 
But,  if  we  haven't  got  him,  we  shall  get  a  little 
something  out  of  his  fine  furniture,  for  we  know  all 
about  it,  young  man,  and  we're  going  to  investigate. " 

"Here  are  the  stamped  papers  your  grandpa  would 
never  take,"  interposed  La  Vauthier,  thrusting 
three  summonses  into  Auguste's  hands. 


THE  NOVICE  337 

"Remain,  madame,  we  propose  to  install  you  as 
keeper.  The  law  gives  you  forty  sous  a  day,  which 
isn't  to  be  despised." 

"Ah!  then  I  shall  see  what  there  is  in  that  beau- 
tiful room!"  cried  Dame  Vauthier. 

"You  shall  not  set  foot  in  my  mother's  room!" 
cried  the  young  man  fiercely,  darting  between  the 
three  men  in  black  and  the  door. 

At  a  sign  from  the  bailiff,  his  two  cursitors  and 
his  head  clerk,  who  arrived  at  that  moment,  seized 
Auguste. 

"No  disturbance,  young  man!  You're  not  the 
master  here;  we'll  draw  up  a  report,  and  you  may 
go  and  sleep  at  the  prefecture." 

When  he  heard  that  terrible  word,  Auguste  burst 
into  tears. 

"Oh!  how  lucky  it  is  that  mamma  has  gone!" 
he  said;  "this  would  have  killed  her!" 

A  sort  of  conference  took  place  between  the 
cursitors,  the  bailiff  and  Dame  Vauthier.  Auguste 
understood,  although  they  talked  in  low  tones,  that 
they  were  especially  desirous  to  seize  his  grand- 
father's manuscripts,  and  he  thereupon  opened  the 
door  of  his  mother's  room. 

"Enter,  messieurs,  and  injure  nothing,"  he  said. 
"You  will  be  paid  to-morrow  morning." 

With  that  he  went,  weeping,  into  the  kennel, 
where  he  seized  his  grandfather's  notes  and 
citations  and  put  them  in  the  stove,  knowing  that 
there  was  not  a  spark  of  fire. 

It  was  done  so  rapidly  that  the  bailiff,  a  shrewd, 


338  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

cunning  rascal,  worthy  of  his  clients  Barbet  and 
Metivier,  found  the  young  man  weeping  on  a  chair, 
when  he  hurried  into  the  kennel,  after  deciding  that 
the  manuscript  was  not  likely  to  be  in  the  reception- 
room.  Although  books  and  manuscripts  are  exempt 
from  seizure,  the  species  of  chattel  mortgage 
subscribed  by  the  ex-magistrate  justified  that  method 
of  procedure.  But  it  was  an  easy  matter  to  find 
ways  of  delaying  the  seizure,  which  Monsieur 
Bernard  would  not  have  failed  to  do.  Hence  the 
necessity  of  acting  cunningly.  In  that  view  the 
widow  Vauthier  had  done  her  landlord  an  exceed- 
ingly useful  turn  by  neglecting  to  hand  his 
summonses  to  the  tenant;  she  intended  to  drop  them 
in  the  room  as  she  entered  on  the  heels  of  the 
officers,  or,  if  necessary,  to  tell  Monsieur  Bernard 
that  she  thought  that  they  were  meant  for  the  two 
authors,  who  had  been  away  for  two  days. 

The  formalities  of  the  levy  lasted  about  an  hour, 
for  the  bailiff  omitted  nothing,  considering  the 
value  of  the  property  seized  sufficient  to  pay  the 
debt.  When  the  bailiff  had  taken  his  leave,  the 
poor  boy  took  the  summonses  and  hurried  away  to 
find  his  grandfather  at  the  hospital;  for  the  bailiff 
told  him  that  Dame  Vauthier  was  responsible,  under 
heavy  penalties,  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  property. 
He  could  leave  the  house  therefore  without  fear. 

The  thought  of  his  grandfather  being  taken  to 
prison  for  debt  made  the  poor  child  mad,  as  young 
men  are  mad,  that  is  to  say,  he  was  the  victim  of 
one  of  those  dangerous,  ominous  paroxysms  of 


THE  NOVICE  339 

excitement,  when  all  the  powers  of  youth  effervesce 
at  once  and  may  lead  to  the  commission  of  evil 
deeds  as  well  as  to  displays  of  heroism.  When 
poor  Auguste  reached  Rue  Basse-Sainte-Pierre,  the 
concierge  told  him  that  he  did  not  know  what  had 
become  of  the  father  of  the  sick  woman  who  had 
been  brought  there  at  five  o'clock;  that  Monsieur 
Halpersohn's  orders  were  to  allow  no  one,  not  even 
her  father,  to  see  her  for  a  week,  on  the  risk  of 
endangering  her  life. 

That  reply  put  the  finishing  touch  to  Auguste's 
frenzy.  He  retraced  his  steps  toward  Boulevard  du 
Mont-Parnasse,  brooding  over  the  most  extravagant 
projects  in  his  despair.  He  arrived  about  half-past 
eight  in  the  evening,  almost  famished,  and  so 
exhausted  by  hunger  and  grief,  that  he  listened  to 
Dame  Vauthier  when  she  proposed  to  him  to  share 
her  supper,  which  consisted  of  a  ragout  of  mutton 
with  potatoes.  The  poor  child  sank  half  dead  upon  a 
chair,  in  that  vile  creature's  chamber.  Encouraged 
by  the  old  hag's  cajolery  and  honeyed  words,  he 
answered  certain  adroitly  framed  questions  concern- 
ing Godefroid,  and  he  gave  her  to  understand  that 
her  new  tenant  was  the  man  who  was  to  pay  his 
grandfather's  debts  on  the  morrow;  and  that  they 
owed  to  him  the  happy  change  that  had  taken  place 
in  their  condition  within  a  week.  The  widow 
listened  to  his  statements  with  an  incredulous 
expression,  and  induced  Auguste  to  drink  several 
glasses  of  wine. 

About  ten  o'clock  they  heard  the  wheels  of  a  cab, 


340  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

which  stopped  in  front  of  the  house,  and  the  widow 
cried: 

"Ah!  there  is  Monsieur  Godefroid." 

Auguste  at  once  took  the  key  of  his  suite  and 
went  out  to  meet  the  protector  of  his  family;  but  he 
found  Godefroid's  face  so  changed  that  he  hesitated  to 
speak  to  him ;  the  thought  of  his  grandfather's  danger, 
however,  gave  the  noble-hearted  youth  courage. 

This  is  what  had  taken  place  on  Rue  Chanoinesse 
and  had  brought  the  stern  expression  to  Godefroid's 
face. 

The  novice  arrived  in  good  time  and  found 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  and  her  faithful  disciples 
in  the  salon.  He  took  Monsieur  Nicolas  aside  and 
handed  him  the  four  volumes  of  the  Esprit  des  Lois 
Modernes.  Monsieur  Nicolas  at  once  took  the  sealed 
package  to  his  room  and  came  down  to  dinner; 
then,  after  they  had  passed  the  early  part  of  the 
evening  in  conversation,  he  went  up  again,  intend- 
ing to  begin  the  perusal  of  the  work. 

Godefroid  was  greatly  surprised  when,  a  few 
moments  after  the  disappearance  of  Monsieur 
Nicolas,  he  was  requested  by  Manon,  on  his  behalf, 
to  go  and  speak  with  him.  He  went  up  to  his  room, 
under  Manon's  guidance,  and  was  unable  to  pay  any 
heed  to  the  interior  of  the  apartments,  he  was  so 
struck  by  the  transfigured  features  of  his  usually 
placid  and  unemotional  fellow-lodger. 

"Did  you  know,"  demanded  Monsieur  Nicolas, 
once  more  the  stern  magistrate,  "did  you  know  the 
name  of  the  author  of  this  work?" 


THE   NOVICE  341 

"Monsieur  Bernard,"  Godefroid  replied;  "I  know 
him  only  by  that  name.  I  did  not  open  the  package." 

"Ah!  true,"  said  Monsieur  Nicolas,  "I  broke  the 
seals  myself.  You  have  made  no  attempt,"  he  con- 
tinued, "to  discover  his  antecedents?" 

"No,  I  know  that  he  married  for  love  the  daughter 
of  General  Tarlovski;  that  his  daughter's  name  is 
Vanda,  as  her  mother's  was,  and  his  grandson's 
Auguste,  and  the  portrait  of  Monsieur  Bernard  that 
I  saw,  represented  the  president  of  a  royal  court,  in 
a  red  robe,  if  I  remember  aright." 

"See,  read  this!"  said  Monsieur  Nicolas,  pointing 
to  the  title  of  the  work,  written  in  Auguste's  boldest 
hand,  and  arranged  thus: 

ESPRIT 

DBS  LOIS  MODERNES 

PAR  MONSIEUR  BERNARD-JEAN-BAPTISTE-MACLOUD 
BARON  BOURLAC 

formerly  procureur-general  at  the  Royal  Court  of 

Rouen,  and  Grand  Officer  of  the  Legion 

of  Honor. 

"Ah!  the  executioner  of  Madame  and  her 
daughter  and  the  Chevalier  du  Vissard!"  said 
Godefroid  in  a  feeble  voice. 

The  novice's  legs  gave  way  beneath  him  and  he 
sank  into  an  armchair. 

"A  pretty  beginning!"  he  muttered. 

"This,  my  dear  Godefroid,"   resumed  Monsieur 


342  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

Nicolas,  "is  a  matter  that  concerns  us  all;  you  have 
done  your  share  of  it,  the  rest  is  for  us!  Take  no 
further  steps,  I  beg  you;  go  and  get  whatever  you 
may  have  left  in  that  house!  Not  a  word  to  any- 
one!— absolute  secrecy!  And  tell  Baron  Bourlac  to 
apply  to  me.  Between  now  and  then  we  shall  have 
decided  how  it  befits  us  to  act  under  these  circum- 
stances." 

Godefroid  went  down  stairs,  left  the  house,  took 
a  cab,  and  was  driven  rapidly  to  Boulevard  du 
Mont-Parnasse,  shuddering  with  horror  at  the 
remembrance  of  the  indictment  from  the  crown 
office  at  Caen,  of  the  bloody  drama  concluded  on 
the  scaffold,  and  of  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  term 
at  Bice'tre.  He  understood  the  state  of  abandon- 
ment in  which  that  one-time  procureur-general,  in 
some  respects  comparable  to  Fouquier-Tinville,  was 
passing  his  declining  days,  and  the  reasons  for  his 
carefully  guarded  incognito. 

"May  Monsieur  Nicolas  avenge  poor  Madame  de 
la  Chanterie  in  condign  fashion!" 

He  was  mentally  uttering  that  most  un-Catholic 
wish,  when  he  spied  Auguste. 

"What  do  you  want  of  me?"  he  asked. 

"My  dear,  kind  monsieur,  a  misfortune  has 
happened  to  us  that  drives  me  mad!  Some  villains 
have  been  here  and  seized  everything  in  my 
mother's  room,  and  they  are  looking  for  my  grand- 
father to  put  him  in  prison.  But  those  things  are 
not  what  make  me  come  to  you,"  said  the  boy, 
with  the  noble  pride  of  a  Roman;  "I  have  come  to 


THE  NOVICE  343 

ask  you  to  do  me  such  a  favor  as  people  do  for  those 
who  are  condemned  to  death!" 

"Tell  me  what  it  is,"  said  Godefroid. 

"They  came  to  get  possession  of  my  grandfather's 
manuscripts;  and,  as  I  think  he  has  given  them  to 
you,  I  have  come  to  beg  you  to  take  the  notes,  for 
the  concierge  won't  allow  anything  to  be  taken 
away, — place  them  with  the  volumes." 

"Very  well,  very  well,"  said  Godefroid,  "go 
quickly  and  get  them." 

While  the  young  man  went  to  his  room,  to  return 
immediately,  Godefroid  reflected  that  he  was  guilty 
of  no  crime,  and  that  he  must  not  drive  the  poor 
child  to  despair  by  talking  to  him  about  his  grand- 
father, about  the  neglect  and  solitude  by  which  his 
melancholy  old  age  was  being  punished  for  the 
excesses  of  political  life,  and  he  took  the  package 
with  a  sort  of  good  grace. 

"What  is  your  mother's  name?"  he  asked. 

"My  mother,  monsieur,  is  the  Baronne  de  Mergi; 
my  father  was  the  son  of  the  first  president  of  the 
Royal  Court  of  Rouen." 

"Ah!"  said  Godefroid,  "your  grandfather  gave 
his  daughter  to  the  son  of  the  famous  Mergi?" 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

"Leave  me,  my  young  friend,"  said  Godefroid. 

He  escorted  the  young  Baron  de  Mergi  to  the 
landing  and  summoned  Dame  Vauthier. 

"Mere  Vauthier,"  he  said,  "you  may  dispose  of 
my  apartments,  I  shall  never  return  here." 

And  he  went  down  to  return  to  his  cab. 


344  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

"Did  you  hand  anything  to  that  gentleman?" 
Dame  Vauthier  asked  Auguste. 

"Yes,"  was  the  reply. 

"You're  a  pretty  fellow!  he's  an  agent  of  your 
enemies!  He  has  managed  the  whole  business, 
that's  sure.  The  proof  that  he  did  the  trick  is  that 
he's  never  coming  back  here.  He  told  me  I  could 
advertise  my  rooms  to  let." 

Auguste  rushed  down  to  the  boulevard,  ran  after 
the  cab  and  shouted  so  loud  that  he  finally  succeeded 
in  stopping  it. 

"What  do  you  want?"  demanded  Godefroid. 

"My  grandfather's  manuscripts!" 

"Tell  him  to  go  and  get  them  from  Monsieur 
Nicolas." 

The  young  man  took  that  remark  for  the  ferocious 
jest  of  a  robber  dead  to  all  sense  of  shame,  and  he 
sank  down  in  the  snow  as  the  cab  moved  rapidly 
away.  He  sprang  to  his  feet  again  in  an  outburst 
of  frantic  energy,  returned  home  and  went  to  bed, 
exhausted  by  his  rapid  journeys  and  his  broken 
heart.  The  next  morning  Auguste  de  Mergi  awoke 
alone  in  those  apartments  which  his  mother  and 
grandfather  had  occupied  the  day  before,  and  he  was 
overcome  by  the  painful  emotions  natural  to  the 
plight  in  which  he  found  himself.  The  profound 
solitude  of  rooms  but  lately  so  full  of  life,  where 
every  moment  had  its  duty  and  its  task,  affected 
him  so  painfully,  that  he  went  down  to  ask  Mere 
Vauthier  if  his  grandfather  had  come  during  the 
night  or  early  in  the  morning,  for  he  had  slept  very 


THE  NOVICE  345 

late,  and  he  imagined  that,  if  Baron  Bourlac  had 
returned,  the  concierge  would  have  informed  him  of 
the  proceedings  against  him.  She  replied  with  a 
sneer  that  he  knew  well  enough  where  his  grand- 
father was,  and  that,  if  he  had  not  come  home  that 
morning  it  was  because  he  was  occupying  apart- 
ments at  the  chateau  of  Clichy.  This  mockery 
from  a  woman  who,  only  the  night  before,  had 
made  so  much  of  him,  made  the  poor  boy  more 
frantic  than  ever,  and  he  hurried  away  to  the 
hospital  on  Rue  Basse-Saint-Pierre,  made  desper- 
ate by  the  thought  that  his  grandfather  was  in 
prison. 

All  night  Baron  Bourlac  had  prowled  about  the 
hospital,  where  admittance  was  denied  him,  and 
about  the  residence  of  Doctor  Halpersohn,  whom  he 
naturally  desired  to  call  to  account  for  such  conduct. 
The  doctor  did  not  return  home  until  two  in  the 
morning.  The  old  man,  who  had  been  at  his  door 
at  half-past  one,  had  returned  to  the  broad  path  on 
the  Champs-Elysees  and  was  walking  back  and  forth 
there;  when  he  returned,  at  half-past  two,  the  con- 
cierge told  him  that  Monsieur  Halpersohn  had  come 
home  and  gone  to  bed,  that  he  was  asleep  and  they 
did  not  dare  to  wake  him. 

Finding  himself  in  that  distant  quarter  at  half-past 
two  in  the  morning,  the  poor  father,  in  despair, 
wandered  around  the  quay,  under  the  rime-laden 
trees  of  the  by-paths  of  the  Cours-la-Reine,  and 
waited  for  the  dawn.  At  nine  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing he  presented  himself  at  the  doctor's  door,  and 


346  THE  OTHER   SIDE 

asked  him  why  he  kept  his  daughter  thus  in  close 
confinement. 

"Monsieur,"  replied  the  doctor,  "I  told  you  yes- 
terday that  I  would  answer  for  your  daughter's 
recovery;  but  at  this  moment  I  am  responsible  for 
her  life,  and  you  will  understand  that  under  those 
circumstances  my  power  must  be  supreme.  Let  me 
tell  you  that  your  daughter  took  a  remedy  yester- 
day which  should  give  her  the  plica,  and  that,  until 
she  has  gotten  rid  of  that  horrible  disease,  she  will 
not  be  visible.  I  do  not  propose  that  any  sudden 
excitement,  any  lapse  in  treatment,  shall  deprive 
me  of  my  patient  and  you  of  your  daughter;  if  you 
absolutely  insist  upon  seeing  her  I  shall  demand  a 
consultation  of  three  physicians  for  my  own  protec- 
tion, for  the  patient  may  die." 

The  old  man,  overdone  with  fatigue,  fell  upon  a 
chair;  but  he  soon  rose  again. 

"Forgive  me,  monsieur,"  he  said.  "I  passed  the 
night  in  horrible  distress,  waiting  for  you;  you  have 
no  idea  how  dearly  I  love  my  daughter,  whom  I 
have  kept  between  life  and  death  for  fifteen  years, 
and  this  week  of  suspense  is  torture  to  me!" 

The  baron  left  Halpersohn's  office,  staggering 
like  a  drunken  man.  About  an  hour  after  the 
departure  of  the  old  man,  whom  the  Jew  doctor  had 
led  as  far  as  the  stairs,  holding  his  arm,  Auguste  de 
Mergi  made  his  appearance.  Upon  questioning  the 
concierge  at  the  hospital,  the  poor  fellow  had  learned 
that  the  father  of  the  lady  brought  there  the  day 
before  had  returned  during  the  evening,  that  he  had 


THE  NOVICE  347 

asked  to  see  the  patient  and  had  spoken  of  calling 
upon  Doctor  Halpersohn  in  the  morning,  and  that 
he  would  undoubtedly  hear  of  him  there.  Just  as 
Auguste  appeared  in  Halpersohn's  study,  the  doctor 
was  breakfasting  on  a  cup  of  chocolate  and  a  glass 
of  water,  served  on  a  small  round  table;  he  did  not 
allow  the  young  man's  entrance  to  disturb  him  and 
went  on  dipping  his  bread  in  his  chocolate;  for  he 
was  eating  nothing  save  a  roll,  cut  in  four  pieces 
with  an  accuracy  that  savored  of  a  surgeon's 
deftness.  Halpersohn  had,  in  fact,  done  something 
in  surgery  in  his  travels. 

"Well,  young  man,"  he  said,  "have  you  also 
come  to  question  me  about  your  mother?" 

"Yes,  monsieur,"  Auguste  replied. 

He  walked  toward  the  table,  where  his  eyes  were 
dazzled  by  several  piles  of  gold  pieces  among  a 
number  of  bank  notes.  In  the  poor  child's  unhappy 
plight,  the  temptation  was  stronger  than  his  princi- 
ples, solidly  grounded  as  they  were.  He  saw  before 
him  the  means  of  saving  his  grandfather  and  the 
fruits  of  twenty  years'  toil,  threatened  by  greedy 
speculators.  He  succumbed.  The  fascination  was 
swift  as  thought  and  justified  by  the  idea  of  self- 
sacrifice,  which  pleased  the  child.  He  said  to 
himself: 

"I  shall  ruin  myself,  but  I  shall  save  my  mother 
and  my  grandfather!" 

In  that  hand-to-hand  straggle  between  his  good 
sense  and  crime,  he  acquired,  as  madmen  do,  a 
strange,  momentary  cunning;  for,  instead  of  asking 


348  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

about  his  grandfather,  he  fell  in  with  the  doctor's 
humor.  Halpersohn,  like  all  shrewd  observers,  had 
made  an  accurate  guess  at  the  past  life  of  the  old 
man,  and  of  the  child  and  his  mother.  He  foresaw 
or  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  truth  which  the  Baronne 
de  Mergi's  conversation  vaguely  revealed  to  him, 
and  the  result  was  a  sort  of  kindly  feeling  for  his 
new  patients;  of  respect  or  admiration  he  was 
incapable. 

"Well,  my  dear  boy,"  he  said  to  the  young 
baron,  in  a  familiar  tone,  "I  am  taking  care  of  your 
mother  for  you,  and  I  will  give  her  back  to  you 
young  and  lovely  and  in  good  health.  She  is  one 
of  the  few  patients  in  whom  doctors  take  an  interest; 
moreover,  she  is  a  country-woman  of  mine  through 
her  mother.  You  and  your  grandfather  must  be 
men  enough  to  go  two  weeks  without  seeing — 
madame — ?" 

"La  Baronne  de  Mergi." 

"If  she  is  a  baroness,  you  must  be  a  baron?" 
queried  Halpersohn. 

At  that  moment  the  theft  was  accomplished. 
While  the  doctor  was  looking  at  his  bit  of  bread 
saturated  with  chocolate,  Auguste  seized  four  folded 
notes  and  put  them  in  his  trousers  pocket,  as  if  he 
were  putting  his  hand  there  for  greater  ease  of 
manner. 

"Yes,  monsieur,  I  am  a  baron.  My  grandfather 
is  a  baron  too;  he  was  procureur-general  under  the 
Restoration." 

"You   blush,    young  man;    you   mustn't   blush 


THE  NOVICE  349 

because,  being  a  baron,  you  are  poor — that  is  very 
common." 

"Who  told  you  that  we  are  poor,  monsieur?" 

"Why,  your  grandfather  told  me  that  he  passed 
the  night  in  the  Champs-Elysees;  and  although  I 
know  of  no  palace  where  there  is  so  beautiful  a 
ceiling  as  that  which  shone  over  the  Champs-Ely- 
sees  at  two  o'clock  this  morning,  I  assure  you  that 
it  was  cold  where  your  grandfather  was  walking. 
People  don't  select  the  Hotel  de  la  Belle  Etoile*from 
choice." 

"Has  my  grandfather  just  left  you?"  said 
Auguste,  seizing  upon  that  excuse  to  take  his  leave. 
"I  thank  you,  monsieur,  and,  if  you  will  permit  me, 
I  will  come  to  inquire  for  my  mother." 

Once  out  of  the  house  the  young  baron  went  to 
the  bailiff's  office,  taking  a  cab  in  order  to  reach  his 
destination  more  speedily,  and  paid  his  grand- 
father's debt.  The  bailiff  handed  him  the  notes  and 
a  receipt  for  the  costs,  then  bade  the  young  man 
take  one  of  his  clerks  with  him  in  order  to  discharge 
the  keeper. 

"As  Messieurs  Barbet  and  Metivier  live  in 
your  quarter,"  he  added,  "my  young  man  will  carry 
them  the  money  and  tell  them  to  hand  you  the 
mortgage." 

Auguste,  who  understood  none  of  those  terms  or 
formalities,  did  as  he  was  told.  He  received  seven 
hundred  francs  in  change,  out  of  the  four  thousand, 
and  went  away  with  the  clerk.  He  entered  the  cab 

*  That  is,  the  open  air. 


350  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

in  an  indescribable  condition  of  bewilderment;  for, 
now  that  the  result  was  obtained,  the  remorse 
began,  and  he  imagined  himself  disgraced,  cursed 
by  his  grandfather,  whose  inflexibility  was  well 
known  to  him;  and  he  believed  that  his  mother 
would  die  of  grief  when  she  knew  of  what  he  had 
been  guilty.  The  whole  face  of  nature  changed  in 
his  eyes.  He  was  burning  hot,  he  did  not  see  the 
snow,  the  houses  seemed  like  spectres  to  him. 
When  he  reached  home,  the  young  baron  formed 
his  plan,  which  certainly  indicated  honesty  of 
purpose:  he  went  to  his  mother's  room  and  took  the 
diamond-studded  snuff-box  that  the  Emperor  had 
given  his  grandfather,  with  the  intention  of  sending 
it  to  Doctor  Halpersohn  together  with  the  seven 
hundred  francs  and  the  following  letter,  which 
required  several  rough  drafts: 

"MONSIEUR, 

"The  results  of  twenty  years'  toil  on  my  grandfather's 
part  were  on  the  point  of  being  swallowed  up  by  usurers  who 
threatened  his  liberty.  Three  thousand  three  hundred  francs 
would  save  him,  and,  seeing  so  much  money  on  your  table, 
I  was  unable  to  resist  the  temptation  to  set  my  grandfather 
free  and  at  the  same  time  restore  to  him  the  fruits  of  his 
vigils.  I  borrowed  from  you,  without  your  consent,  four 
thousand  francs;  but  as  only  three  thousand  three  hundred 
francs  were  needed,  I  send  you  the  other  seven  hundred,  and 
I  send  with  them  a  snuff-box  set  with  diamonds,  given  to  my 
grandfather  by  the  Emperor,  the  value  of  which  will  make  up 
the  difference. 

"Even  if  you  should  not  believe  in  the  honorable  motives 
of  him  who  will  always  look  upon  you  as  his  benefactor, — if 
you  will  deign  to  say  nothing  concerning  an  act  that  would 


THE  NOVICE  351 

be  unjustifiable  under  any  other  circumstances,  you  will  save 
my  grandfather  as  well  as  my  mother,  and  I  shall  be  your 
devoted  slave  as  long  as  I  live. 

"AUGUSTE  DE  MERGI." 

About  half-past  two,  Auguste,  who  had  walked 
as  far  as  the  Champs-Elysees,  sent  a  messenger  to 
Doctor  Halpersohn's  door  with  a  sealed  box  con- 
taining ten  louis,  a  bank-note  for  five  hundred  francs 
and  the  snuff-box;  then  he  returned  home  slowly 
on  foot,  by  Pont  d'lena,  the  Invalides  and  the 
boulevards,  relying  upon  Doctor  Halpersohn's 
generosity.  The  doctor,  who  had  discovered  the 
theft,  had  at  once  changed  his  opinion  concerning 
his  clients.  He  believed  that  the  old  man  had  come 
for  the  purpose  of  robbing  him,  and  that,  having 
been  unsuccessful,  he  had  sent  the  boy.  He 
conceived  doubts  as  to  the  titles  they  assumed,  and 
he  went  at  once  to  the  office  of  the  king's  attorney 
to  enter  a  complaint,  requesting  that  they  should  be 
prosecuted  at  once. 

The  prudence  with  which  the  law  proceeds  rarely 
allows  such  swift  progress  as  the  aggrieved  parties 
desire;  but,  about  three  o'clock,  a  commissioner  of 
police,  accompanied  by  several  officers  who  saun- 
tered up  and  down  the  boulevards,  was  interrogating 
Mere  Vauthier  concerning  her  tenants,  and  the 
widow  unwittingly  added  to  the  commissioner's 
suspicions. 

Nepomuc£ne,  who  had  a  keen  scent  for  police 
agents,  supposed  that  they  had  come  to  arrest  the 
old  man;  and,  as  he  was  devoted  to  Auguste,  he 


352  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

hurried  away  to  warn  Monsieur  Bernard,  whom  he 
discovered  on  Avenue  de  1'Observatoire. 

"Run  away,  monsieur!"  he  cried,  "they've  come 
to  arrest  you.  The  bailiffs  are  hiding  in  your  room; 
they've  seized  everything.  Mere  Vauthier,  who 
kept  some  stamped  papers  away  from  you,  said 
you'd  sleep  at  Clichy  to-night  or  to-morrow.  Look, 
do  you  see  those  fellows?" 

A  glance  was  sufficient  to  enable  the  ex-procureur- 
general  to  recognize  bailiff's  followers  in  the  police 
agents,  and  he  divined  what  had  happened. 

"What  of  Monsieur  Godefroid?" 

"Gone  for  good.  Mere  Vauthier  says  he  was  a 
spy  for  your  enemies." 

The  baron  at  once  determined  to  see  Barbet,  and 
he  was  at  his  house  of  business  within  a  quarter  of 
an  hour:  the  former  publisher  lived  on  Rue  Sainte 
Catherine  d'Enfer. 

"Ah!  you  have  come  for  your  mortgage?"  said 
he,  returning  his  victim's  salutation;  "here  it  is." 

And,  to  Baron  Bourlac's  unbounded  amazement, 
he  handed  him  the  document. 

"I  do  not  understand,"  he  said,  as  he  took  it. 

"Wasn't  it  you  who  paid  me?"  rejoined  the 
publisher. 

"You  say  you  have  been  paid?" 

"Your  grandson  carried  the  money  to  the  bailiff 
this  morning." 

"Is  it  true  that  you  levied  on  me  yesterday?" 

"You  hadn't  been  at  home  for  two  days,  had 
you?"  demanded  Barbet;  "a  procureur-general 


THE  NOVICE  353 

ought    to   know    what   arrest   on    mesne    process 
means." 

When  he  heard  that  phrase,  the  baron  bowed 
coldly  to  Barbet  and  returned  homeward,  concluding 
that  the  officers  must  be  there  in  search  of  the  two 
authors  in  hiding  on  the  second  floor.  He  walked 
slowly,  absorbed  by  vague  forebodings  of  evil;  for, 
as  he  proceeded,  Nepomucene's  words  seemed  more 
and  more  obscure  and  inexplicable  to  him.  Could 
Godefroid  really  have  betrayed  him?  He  turned 
instinctively  into  Rue  Notre-Dame  des  Champs  and 
went  in  at  the  low  door,  which  happened  to  be  open. 
In  the  passage  he  stumbled  upon  Nepomucene. 

"Oh!  monsieur,  come  quick!  They're  taking 
Monsieur  Auguste  away  to  prison!  They  caught 
him  on  the  boulevard;  he's  the  one  they  were 
looking  for;  they've  been  asking  him  questions — 

The  old  man  leaped  forward  like  a  tiger,  and  flew 
through  the  house  and  garden  to  the  boulevard,  like 
an  arrow  from  a  bow.  He  arrived  in  time  to  see  his 
grandson  entering  a  cab,  surrounded  by  three  men. 

"Auguste,"  he  cried,  "what  does  this  mean?" 

The  young  man  burst  into  tears  and  fainted. 

"Monsieur,  I  am  Baron  Bourlac,  once  procureur- 
general,"  said  the  baron  to  the  commissioner  of 
police,  whose  official  scarf  caught  his  eye;  "in  pity's 
name,  explain  this  to  me!" 

"If  you  are  Baron   Bourlac,  monsieur,  you  will 
understand  the  whole  thing  in  two  words:  I  have 
just  questioned  this  young  man,  and  unluckily  he 
has  confessed — " 
23 


354  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

"What?" 

"The  theft  of  four  thousand  francs  from  Doctor 
Halpersohn." 

"Is  it  possible,  Auguste?" 

"I  sent  him  your  diamond  snuff-box  for  security, 
grandpa.  I  wanted  to  save  you  from  the  disgrace 
of  going  to  prison!" 

"Unhappy  boy,  what  have  you  done?"  cried  the 
baron.  "The  diamonds  are  false,  I  sold  the  genuine 
ones  three  years  ago." 

The  commissioner  of  police  and  his  clerk  exchanged 
a  meaning  glance.  That  glance,  which  said  many 
things,  surprised  and  overwhelmed  Baron  Bourlac. 

"Monsieur  le  Commissaire,"  he  said,  "never  fear, 
I  will  go  and  see  the  king's  attorney;  but  you  can 
bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  I  have  deceived  my 
grandson  and  my  daughter.  You  must  do  your 
duty;  but,  in  the  name  of  humanity,  release  my 
grandson.  I  will  go  to  prison.  Where  are  you 
taking  him?" 

"Are  you  Baron  Bourlac?"  demanded  the  com- 
missioner. 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

"Monsieur  le  procureur  du  roi,  the  examining 
magistrate  and  myself  could  not  believe  that  such 
people  as  you  and  your  grandson  could  be  guilty  of 
this  offense,  and  we  agreed  with  the  doctor  that 
some  knaves  must  have  borrowed  your  names." 

He  led  the  baron  aside. 

"You  went  to  Doctor  Halpersohn's  this  morning?" 
he  asked. 


THE   NOVICE  355 

"Yes,  monsieur." 

"And  your  grandson  went  there  half  an  hour 
later?" 

"I  cannot  say,  monsieur,  for  I  have  just  come  home 
and  I  haven't  seen  my  grandson  since  yesterday." 

"The  summonses  he  showed  us  and  the  envelope 
explain  the  whole  thing,"  said  the  commissioner, 
"and  I  know  the  motive  of  the  crime.  Monsieur,  I 
ought  to  arrest  you  as  your  grandson's  confederate, 
for  your  replies  substantiate  the  facts  alleged  in  the 
complaint;  but  the  documents  which  have  been 
served  upon  you,  and  which  I  return  to  you,"  he 
said,  handing  the  baron  a  package  of  stamped  papers 
which  he  held  in  his  hand,  "prove  that  you  are 
really  Baron  Bourlac.  However,  be  ready  to  appear 
before  Monsieur  Marest,  the  examining  magistrate 
who  has  this  affair  in  charge.  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
relax  the  usual  rigor  of  the  law  in  consideration  of 
your  former  position.  As  for  your  grandson,  I  will 
speak  to  Monsieur  le  procureur  du  roi  when  I  return, 
and  we  shall  have  all  possible  consideration  for  the 
grandson  of  a  former  first  president,  the  victim  of  a 
youthful  error.  But  there  has  been  a  complaint, 
the  culprit  has  confessed,  I  have  prepared  a  return 
and  there  is  a  warrant  for  his  arrest;  I  can  do 
nothing.  As  for  the  place  of  confinement,  we  shall 
take  your  grandson  to  the  Conciergerie." 

"Thanks,  monsieur,"  said  the  unhappy  Bourlac. 

He  fell  flat  in  the  snow  and  rolled  into  one  of  the 
basins  that  then  separated  the  trees  along  the 
boulevard. 


356  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

The  commissioner  called  for  help  and  Nepomucene 
ran  to  the  spot  with  Mere  Vauthier.  They  carried 
the  old  man  to  his  room  and  Dame  Vauthier  requested 
the  commissioner,  as  he  passed  through  Rue  d'Enfer 
to  send  Doctor  Berton  as  quickly  as  possible. 

"What  is  the  matter  with  my  grandfather?" 
asked  poor  Auguste. 

"He  is  mad,  monsieur! — That's  what  comes  of 
stealing!" 

Auguste  tried  to  beat  his  head  against  the  side  of 
the  cab,  but  the  two  agents  held  him. 

"Come,  come,  young  man,  be  calm!"  said  the 
commissioner,  "be  calm!  You  have  done  wrong, 
but  it  isn't  beyond  repair." 

"But,  monsieur,  I  beg  you  tell  that  woman  that 
my  grandfather  probably  has  had  nothing  to  eat  for 
twenty-four  hours!" 

"Oh!  the  poor  creatures!"  muttered  the  commis- 
sioner. 

He  stopped  the  cab,  and  said  a  word  in  the  ear  of 
his  secretary,  who  ran  and  spoke  to  Dame  Vauthier, 
and  returned  at  once. 


Monsieur  Berton  decided  that  the  illness  of  Mon- 
sieur Bernard — for  he  knew  him  by  no  other  name — 
was  a  violent  attack  of  fever;  but  after  the  widow 
Vauthier  had  narrated,  in  true  concierge  style,  the 
events  that  had  caused  his  condition,  he  deemed  it 
his  duty  to  inform  Monsieur  Alain  of  the  state  of 
affairs  the  following  morning,  and  Monsieur  Alain  at 
once  wrote  a  line  to  Monsieur  Nicolas  on  Rue 
Chanoinesse,  and  sent  it  by  a  messenger. 

When  Godefroid  returned,  on  the  preceding  even- 
ing, he  had  handed  the  notes  and  citations  to 
Monsieur  Nicolas,  who  passed  the  greater  part  of 
the  night  reading  the  first  volume  of  Baron  Bourlac's 
work. 

The  next  morning  Madame  de  la  Chanterie 
informed  the  novice  that,  if  he  still  held  to  his 
determination,  he  was  to  set  to  work  at  once. 
Godefroid,  being  enlightened  by  her  as  to  the 
financial  secrets  of  the  association,  worked  seven 
or  eight  hours  a  day  for  several  months,  under  the 
supervision  of  Frederic  Mongenod,  who  came  every 
Sunday  to  examine  his  work,  and  from  whom  he 
received  hearty  praise. 

"You  are  a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  saints  with 

whom  you  live,"  he  said,  when  all  the  accounts 

were  systematized  and  properly  opened.     "Now, 

two  or  three  hours  a  day  will  suffice  to  keep  the 

(357) 


358  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

books  in  running  order,  and  the  rest  of  the  time  you 
can  assist  your  friends,  if  you  still  have  the  inclina- 
tion you  manifested  six  months  ago." 

It  was  then  the  month  of  July,  1838.  During 
the  whole  time  that  had  passed  since  the  episode  of 
Boulevard  du  Mont-Parnasse,  Godefroid,  who  was 
resolved  to  show  himself  worthy  of  his  friends,  had 
not  asked  a  single  question  concerning  Baron 
Bourlac;  for,  as  he  never  heard  the  name  men- 
tioned, and  as  he  found  no  reference  to  the  affair 
among  the  papers,  he  concluded  that  the  silence 
maintained  concerning  the  two  persecutors  of 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  family,  was  intended 
either  as  a  test  for  him  to  undergo,  or  as  a  proof 
that  that  sublime  woman's  friends  had  avenged 
her. 

He  had,  it  is  true,  walked  as  far  as  Boulevard  du 
Mont-Parnasse,  about  two  months  after  the  dis- 
covery of  Monsieur  Bernard's  identity,  had  succeeded 
in  meeting  the  widow  Vauthier  and  had  questioned 
her  concerning  the  family. 

"As  if  anyone  knew  what's  become  of  those 
people,  my  dear  Monsieur  Godefroid! — Two  days 
after  your  exploit — for  it  was  you,  you  fox,  that 
whispered  in  my  landlord's  ear, — some  men  came 
here  and  rid  us  of  that  stuck-up  old  fool.  Bah! 
they  moved  everything  out  inside  of  twenty-four 
hours,  and  that's  the  end  of  'em!  No  one  would 
say  a  word  to  me.  I  believe  he's  gone  to  Algiers 
with  his  thief  of  a  grandson;  for  Nepomucene,  who 
had  a  weak  spot  for  the  thief — indeed,  he  isn't 


THE  NOVICE  359 

much  better  himself — couldn't  find  him  at  the 
Conciergerie,  and  he's  the  only  one  who  knows 
where  they  are;  the  little  rascal  has  run  away  from 
me.  That  comes  of  bringing  up  foundlings!  that's 
the  way  they  reward  you,  by  making  trouble  for 
you.  I  haven't  been  able  to  find  anybody  yet  to 
take  his  place;  and  as  the  quarter's  filling  up,  the 
whole  house  is  let  and  I'm  worn  out  with  work." 

Godefroid  would  never  have  known  anything 
more  concerning  Baron  Bourlac,  except  for  one  of 
the  accidental  meetings  that  so  often  happen  in 
Paris,  and  the  resulting  conclusion  of  the  episode. 

In  the  month  of  September,  Godefroid  was  walk- 
ing down  Avenue  des  Champs-Elysees,  and  as  he 
passed  Rue  Marbeuf,  Doctor  Halpersohn  came  to 
his  mind. 

"I  ought  to  go  and  see  him,"  he  said  to  himself, 
"and  see  if  he  cured  Bourlac's  daughter!  What  a 
voice  and  what  talent  she  had!  She  intended  to 
devote  her  life  to  God!" 

When  he  reached  the  crossing,  Godefroid  hurried 
across  because  of  the  swiftly-moving  carriages,  and 
he  jostled  a  young  man  who  had  a  young  lady  on 
his  arm. 

"Take  care!"  cried  the  young  man;  "are  you 
blind?" 

"What,  is  it  you?"  rejoined  Godefroid,  recogniz- 
ing Auguste  de  Mergi. 

Auguste  was  so  well  dressed,  so  dandified,  and 
so  proud  to  have  the  lady  on  his  arm,  that  the 
novice  would  not  have  recognized  him,  except  for 


360  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

the  memories  with  which  his  mind  was  filled  at  the 
moment. 

"Why!  it  is  our  dear  Monsieur  Godefroid!"  said 
the  lady. 

When  he  heard  the  divine  notes  of  Vanda's 
heavenly  voice,  and  saw  that  she  was  actually 
walking,  Godefroid's  feet  were  nailed  to  the  spot 
where  he  stood. 

"Cured!"  he  exclaimed. 

"Ten  days  ago  he  allowed  me  to  walk!"  she 
replied. 

"Halpersohn?" 

"Yes. — And  how  is  it  that  you  have  not  been  to 
see  us?"  she  continued.  "But  you  did  well!  My 
hair  was  cut  off  only  a  week  ago!  What  you  see 
now  is  a  wig;  but  the  doctor  gave  me  his  word  that 
it  would  grow  again! — How  many  things  we  have 
to  say  to  each  other!  Come  and  dine  with  us, 
pray!  Oh!  your  accordion!  O  monsieur!" 

She  put  her  handkerchief  to  her  eyes. 

"I  shall  keep  it  all  my  life!  My  son  will  preserve 
it  as  a  sacred  relic!  My  father  has  hunted  Paris 
over  for  you;  he  is  searching  for  his  unknown 
benefactors  too,  and  he  will  die  of  disappointment 
if  you  do  not  help  him  to  find  them.  He  is  consumed 
by  black  melancholy,  which  I  cannot  overcome 
every  day." 

Fascinated  by  the  voice  of  that  lovely  creature 
rescued  from  the  grave  as  well  as  by  the  voice  of  a 
devouring  curiosity,  Godefroid  offered  his  arm  to 
receive  the  hand  that  the  Baronne  de  Mergi  held 


IN  THE   CHAMPS-ELYSEES 


"What,  is  it  you?"  rejoined  Godefroid,  recogniz- 
ing Augusts  de  Mergi. 

Auguste  was  so  well  dressed,  so  dandified,  and  so 
proud  to  have  the  lady  on  Ids  arm,  that  the  novice 
would  not  have  recognized  Jiim,  except  for  the  mem- 
ories with  which  his  mind  was  filled  at  the  moment. 

"  Why  /  it  is  our  dear  Monsieur  Godefroid  !  "  said 
the  lady. 


DtU.n 


THE  NOVICE  361 

out;  she  sent  her  son  ahead  after  giving  him  his 
instructions  with  a  movement  of  the  head,  which 
he  seemed  to  understand. 

"I  am  not  taking  you  very  far,  we  live  on  Allee 
d'Antin  in  a  pretty  house  of  the  English  pattern; 
we  occupy  the  whole  of  it;  each  of  us  has  a  floor. 
Oh!  we  are  very  comfortable.  My  father  believes 
that  you  have  much  to  do  with  the  happiness  by 
which  we  are  overwhelmed!" 

"I?" 

"Do  you  not  know  that,  upon  a  report  from  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction,  they  have  created  a 
professorship  of  legislation  for  him,  like  that  at  the 
Sorbonne?  My  father  is  to  begin  his  first  course  of 
lectures  in  November.  The  great  work  he  was  en- 
gaged upon  will  appear  in  a  month;  the  house  of 
Cavalier  is  to  publish  it,  dividing  the  profits  with 
father,  and  they  have  advanced  him  thirty  thousand 
francs  on  account  of  his  share;  so  he  is  thinking  of 
buying  the  house  we  now  live  in.  The  Department 
of  Justice  allows  me  a  pension  of  twelve  hundred 
francs,  as  the  daughter  of  a  former  magistrate; 
father  has  his  pension  of  three  thousand  francs  and 
five  thousand  as  professor.  We  are  so  economical 
that  we  are  almost  rich.  My  Auguste  is  going  to 
begin  his  law  studies  in  two  months;  but  he  is  a 
clerk  now  in  the  procureur-general's  office,  and 
earns  twelve  hundred  francs.  Ah!  Monsieur  Gode- 
froid,  do  not  speak  of  my  poor  Auguste's  unfortunate 
affair.  I  bless  him  every  morning  for  what  he  did, 
but  his  grandfather  hasn't  forgiven  him  yet!  His 


362  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

mother  blesses  him,  Halpersohn  adores  him  and  the 
ex-procureur-general  is  implacable!" 

"What  affair?"  said  Godefroid. 

"Ah!  I  recognize  your  generous  nature  in  that!" 
cried  Vanda.  "What  a  noble  heart  you  have! 
Your  mother  must  be  proud  of  you." 

She  stopped,  as  if  she  had  felt  a  pain  in  her  heart. 

"I  swear  to  you  that  I  know  nothing  whatever 
about  the  affair  you  mention,"  said  Godefroid. 

"Really,  you  have  not  heard  of  it?" 

In  artless  fashion  she  told  the  story  of  Auguste's 
forced  loan  from  the  doctor,  lauding  her  son's  action. 

"If  we  may  not  mention  the  subject  before  Baron 
Bourlac,"  said  Godefroid,  "pray  tell  us  how  your 
son  escaped  the  consequences." 

"Why,"  replied  Vanda,  "I  told  you,  I  think,  that 
he  is  now  a  clerk  to  the  procureur-general,  who  is 
most  kind  to  him.  He  remained  only  forty-eight 
hours  in  the  Conciergerie,  where  he  was  lodged  in 
the  governor's  apartments.  The  good  doctor,  who 
did  not  receive  Auguste's  beautiful,  sublime  letter 
until  the  evening,  withdrew  his  complaint;  and 
through  the  intervention  of  a  former  president  of  one 
of  the  royal  courts,  whom  my  father  has  never  seen, 
the  procureur-general  annulled  the  report  of  the 
commissioner  of  police  and  the  warrant.  In  fact 
there  is  no  trace  of  the  affair  in  existence,  elsewhere 
than  in  my  heart,  in  my  son's  conscience  and  in 
the  mind  of  his  grandfather,  who,  since  that  day, 
always  calls  Augusteyou  instead  of  thou,  and  treats 
him  like  a  stranger.  No  later  than  yesterday 


THE  NOVICE  363 

Halpersohn  was  asking  forgiveness  for  him;  but  my 
father,  who  refuses  even  me,  whom  he  loves  so 
dearly,  replied:  'You  are  the  person  he  robbed,  you 
can  and  should  forgive;  but  I  am  responsible  for  the 
thief — and,  when  I  was  procureur-general,  I  never 
forgave!' — 'You  will  kill  your  daughter!'  said  Halper- 
sohn; I  was  listening.  My  father  said  nothing." 

"But  who  has  helped  you?" 

"A  gentleman  whom  we  believe  to  be  employed 
to  distribute  the  queen's  bounty." 

"What  sort  of  man  is  he?"  asked  Godefroid. 

"He  is  a  thin,  solemn-faced,  melancholy  man,  of 
the  same  general  type  as  father.  It  was  he  who 
had  my  father  taken  to  the  house  where  we  now 
live,  when  he  had  the  attack  of  fever.  Just 
imagine  that,  as  soon  as  father  recovered,  I  was 
taken  from  the  hospital  to  that  same  house  and 
comfortably  settled  in  my  room,  as  if  I  had  never 
left  it.  Halpersohn,  whom  the  tall  gentleman  had 
won  over,  I  don't  know  how,  told  me  then  of  all 
the  suffering  father  had  undergone:  the  diamonds 
from  his  snuff-box  sold!  and  father  and  son,  most 
of  the  time  without  a  crust  and  pretending  to  be 
rich  in  my  presence!  O  Monsieur  Godefroid,  those 
two  are  genuine  martyrs.  What  can  I  say  to  my 
father?  I  can  only  do  to  both  of  them  as  they  have 
done  to  me,  by  suffering  for  them." 

"Has  this  tall  gentleman  something  of  a  military 
air?" 

"Ah!  you  know  him!"  cried  Vanda,  as  they 
reached  the  door  of  the  house. 


364  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

She  seized  Godefroid's  hand  with  the  convulsive 
strength  of  a  woman  suffering  from  a  nervous 
attack,  she  dragged  him  into  a  salon,  the  door  of 
which  stood  open,  and  cried: 

"Father,  Monsieur  Godefroid  knows  our  bene- 
factor!" 

Baron  Bourlac,  dressed  in  a  costume  befitting  a 
former  magistrate  of  such  high  rank,  rose  and  offered 
Godefroid  his  hand. 

"I  suspected  as  much!"  he  said. 

Godefroid  made  a  gesture  intended  to  disclaim  any 
share  in  the  results  of  that  noble  revenge;  but  the 
ex-procureur-general  did  not  give  him  time  to  speak. 

"Ah!  monsieur,"  he  continued,  "only  Providence 
is  more  powerful,  only  love  more  ingenious,  only 
maternal  affection  more  clear-sighted  than  your 
friends,  who  have  some  of  the  characteristics  of 
those  three  great  divinities.  I  bless  the  chance  to 
which  we  owe  our  meeting;  for  Monsieur  Joseph 
has  disappeared  forever,  and  as  he  succeeded  in 
avoiding  all  the  traps  that  I  set  to  learn  his  true 
name  and  his  residence,  I  should  have  died  of 
chagrin  at  last.  See,  here  is  his  letter.  But  do 
you  know  him?" 

Godefroid  read  the  following  lines: 

"Monsieur  le  Baron  Bourlac,  the  sums  which  we  have 
expended  for  you,  under  the  instructions  of  a  charitable  lady, 
amount  to  fifteen  thousand  francs.  Make  a  note  of  the 
amount,  so  that  they  may  be  repaid,  either  by  yourself  or  by 
your  descendants,  when  the  circumstances  of  your  family 
permit;  for  it  is  the  money  of  the  poor.  When  this  restitution 


THE  NOVICE  365 

is  possible,  pay  the  amount  of  your  indebtedness  at  the 
banking  house  of  Mongenod  Freres.  May  God  forgive  you 
your  sins!" 

The  signature  to  the  letter  was  most  mysterious, 
consisting  of  five  crosses.  Godefroid  returned  it  to 
the  baron. 

"The  five  crosses  are  there!"  he  said  to  himself. 

"Ah!  monsieur,"  said  the  old  man,  "you  know  all 
about  it,  you  were  once  this  mysterious  lady's 
agent — tell  me  her  name." 

"Her  name!"  cried  Godefroid,  "her  name! 
Never  ask  it,  unhappy  man!  never  seek  to  learn 
it! — Ah!  madame,"  he  continued,  taking  Madame 
de  Mergi's  trembling  hands  in  his,  "if  you  care  for 
your  father's  reason,  see  to  it  that  he  remains  in  his 
ignorance,  that  he  does  not  take  the  slightest  step!" 

Father,  daughter  and  Auguste  were  transfixed 
with  wonder. 

"Who  is  she?"  asked  Vanda. 

"Very  well,  if  you  insist,"  replied  Godefroid, 
gazing  fixedly  at  the  old  man,  "the  woman  who  has 
saved  your  daughter,  who  has  restored  her  to  you, 
young  and  fair  and  blooming  with  renewed  life,  who 
has  snatched  her  from  the  coffin;  the  woman  who 
spared  you  the  disgrace  of  your  grandson,  who 
has  made  your  old  age  happy  and  honored,  who  has 
saved  you  all  three — " 

He  paused. 

"Is  a  woman  whom  you  sent,  although  innocent, 
to  prison  for  twenty  years!"  he  cried,  hurling  the 
words  at  Baron  Bourlac;  "upon  whom  you,  as 


366  THE  OTHER  SIDE 

procureur-general,  heaped  the  most  cruel  insults, 
whose  sanctity  you  outraged,  and  from  whose  arms 
you  tore  a  lovely  daughter,  to  consign  her  to  the 
most  horrible  of  'deaths — for  she  was  guillotined!" 

Seeing  that  Vanda  had  fallen,  fainting,  upon  a 
chair,  Godefroid  rushed  into  the  hall,  thence  into 
Allee  d'Antin,  and  ran  away  at  the  top  of  his  speed. 

"If  you  want  to  be  forgiven,"  said  Baron  Bourlac 
to  his  grandson,  "follow  that  man  and  find  out 
where  he  lives!" 

Auguste  darted  away  like  an  arrow. 

The  next  morning,  at  half-past  eight,  Baron 
Bourlac  knocked  at  the  old  yellow  gate  of  the  Hotel 
de  la  Chanterie  on  Rue  Chanoinesse.  He  inquired 
for  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  and  the  concierge 
pointed  to  the  steps.  Luckily  it  was  the  breakfast 
hour  and  Godefroid  spied  the  baron  in  the  court- 
yard, through  one  of  the  windows  by  which  the 
staircase  was  lighted;  he  had  barely  time  to  hurry 
downstairs,  burst  into  the  salon,  where  the  whole 
household  was  assembled,  and  cry  out: 

"Baron  Bourlac!" 

When  she  heard  that  name,  Madame  de  la  Chan- 
terie withdrew  to  her  room,  supported  by  Abbe  de 
Veze. 

"You  sha'n't  come  in,  you  limb  of  Satan!"  cried 
Manon,  who  recognized  the  procureur-general,  and 
took  her  stand  in  front  of  the  door  of  the  salon. 
"Have  you  come  to  kill  Madame?" 

"Nonsense,  Manon,  let  monsieur  pass,"  said 
Monsieur  Alain. 


THE   NOVICE  367 

Manon  sank  upon  a  chair  as  if  both  legs  had  given 
way  at  once. 

"Messieurs,"  said  the  baron  in  a  voice  expressive 
of  the  most  profound  emotion,  as  he  recognized 
Godefroid  and  Monsieur  Joseph  and  saluted  the 
two  others,  "benevolence  confers  some  rights  upon 
its  object!" 

"You  owe  us  nothing,  monsieur,"  said  honest 
Alain,  "you  owe  everything  to  God." 

"You  are  saints  and  you  have  the  tranquillity  of 
saints,"  rejoined  the  ex-magistrate.  "You  will 
listen  to  me!  I  know  that  the  more  than  human 
benefactions  that  have  been  heaped  upon  me  in  the 
past  eighteen  months  are  the  work  of  a  person 
whom  I  seriously  wounded  in  the  discharge  of  my 
duty;  it  was  fifteen  years  before  I  was  satisfied  of 
her  innocence,  and  that,  gentlemen,  is  the  only 
thing  in  my  official  career  for  which  I  feel  remorse. 
Listen!  I  have  but  little  time  to  live,  but  I  shall  lose 
that  little,  still  so  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  my 
children  whom  Madame  de  la  Chanterie  has  saved, 
if  I  cannot  obtain  my  pardon  from  her.  Messieurs, 
I  will  remain  on  the  steps  of  Notre-Dame,  on  my 
knees,  until  she  says  a  word  to  me. — I  will  await 
her  there.  I  will  kiss  her  footprints,  I  will  find  tears 
to  move  her  heart,  although  my  child's  sufferings 
have  drained  my  heart  as  dry  as  straw." 

The  door  of  Madame  de  la  Chanterie's  room 
opened,  Abbe  de  Veze  glided  out  like  a  shadow,  and 
said  to  Monsieur  Joseph: 

"That  voice  is  killing  Madame!" 


368  THE   OTHER   SIDE 

"Ah!  is  she  there?  did  she  go  that  way?" 
exclaimed  Baron  Bourlac. 

He  fell  on  his  knees,  kissed  the  floor,  burst  into 
tears,  and  cried  in  a  heartrending  voice: 

"In  the  name  of  Jesus,  who  died  on  the  Cross, 
forgive  me!  forgive  me!  for  my  daughter  has 
suffered  a  thousand  deaths!" 

The  old  man  was  so  prostrated,  that  the  moved 
spectators  believed  him  dead.  At  that  moment 
Madame  de  la  Chanterie  appeared  like  a  ghost  at 
the  door  of  her  chamber,  and  leaned,  trembling, 
against  the  door-frame. 

"By  Louis  XVI.  and  Marie-Antoinette,  whom  I  see 
upon  their  scaffold,  by  Madame  Elisabeth,  by  my 
daughter,  by  your  daughter,  by  Jesus  Christ,  I  for- 
give you!" 

At  the  last  words  the  former  magistrate  raised  his 
eyes  and  said: 

"Thus  do  the  angels  revenge  themselves!" 

Monsieur  Joseph  and  Monsieur  Nicolas  assisted 
Baron  Bourlac  to  rise,  and  led  him  into  the  court- 
yard; Godefroid  went  to  call  a  cab,  and  when  it 
arrived,  Monsieur  Nicolas  said,  as  he  helped  the  old 
man  to  enter: 

"Do  not  come  here  again,  monsieur;  if  you  do, 
you  will  kill  the  mother  too,  for  God's  power  is 
infinite,  but  human  nature  has  its  limits." 

That  same  day  Godefroid  was  admitted  to  the 
order  of  the  Brethren  of  Consolation. 

Vierzchovnia,  Ukraine,  December,  1847. 


LIST  OF   ETCHINGS 


VOLUME  XXXV 

PAGE 

IN  CHESNAY  WOOD Fronts. 

THE  BROTHERHOOD  OF  CONSOLATION 64 

THE  RETURN  OF  MONGENOD 144 

GODEFROID  MEETS  M.  BERNARD 240 

IN  THE  CHAMPS-ELYSEES 360 


35  C.  H.,  Z.  Marcas,  N.  &  R.  369 


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